Insulin treatment as a tracer for identifying latent patient safety risks in home-based diabetes care

Abstract

To explore whether attitudes and opinions in areas of importance to patient safety expressed by nurses with medical responsibility were related to the knowledge of diabetes among home care personnel. A questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the knowledge of diabetes among 3144 nurses' aides' and assistant nurses working in 15 municipalities in Sweden. In each municipality a nurse with medical responsibility answered another questionnaire dealing with patient safety matters in general and diabetes in particular. There were large differences in the knowledge of diabetes among home care personnel on the municipality level. Attitudes and opinions of the nurses with medical responsibility in the areas of leadership, guidance and continuing education were significantly related to the knowledge of diabetes among nurses' aides' and assistant nurses. Our study shows that factors that are related to attitudes and opinions about patient safety among nurses with medical responsibility can increase the risk of home care personnel to make mistakes in the direct care of patients with diabetes.