Assessment of the Knowledge and Self- Care Practice on Hypoglycemia among Patients with Diabetic Mellitus Attending Medical Opd at Smch

Abstract

Introduction: Hypoglycemia is a clinical emergency that needs to be recognized and treated promptly to avoid organ damage and death. Knowledge of hypoglycemia prevention is an essential step in self-care practices due to the fact knowledgeable individuals are much more likely to practice hypoglycemia prevention. Prevention of hypoglycemia relies on adequate awareness and rightself-care. Objectives: To evaluate the level of knowledge and to self - care practice of hypoglycemia with their selected demographic variables among diabetic patients. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive research design was adopted with hundred samples who met the inclusion criteria in the hospital setting. Self-structured questionnaire method was used to acquire the data. Data have been through descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: Of 100 samples, 76(76%) had adequate knowledge and 63(63%)had good self-care practice on hypoglycemia. Spearman’s correlation showed positive relationship between knowledge and self-care practice of hypoglycemia (r value = 0.720, p<0.001). In respect to level of knowledge, there was a significant association noted among age, education, occupation, income, religion, marital status, family history and with regards to self-care practice along with all variables including gender is significant at p<0.05. Conclusion: This study result emphasized that majority of the diabetic patients had adequate knowledge and good self-care practice on hypoglycemia. Enlightening the patients further with regular self-monitoring of blood glucose level and obtain medical guidance and support may help the patients to stay fit.