Dietary Modification Guidelines for Diabetic Patients: Are Final Year Nursing Students Prepared to Offer this Health Service?

It has been indicated that although the responsibility of offering nutrition education lies in the hands of mainly registered dietitians and certified diabetes educators, these professionals may not be available to diabetics as often as nurses. However, a review of the literature suggests that the nutritional knowledge level of nurses in the nutritional management of chronic health conditions may be low. Therefore this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge levels of final year nursing students regarding the nutritional management of Type II diabetes mellitus. The study design was cross-sectional and it was undertaken in two randomly selected Nursing Training Institutions in Ghana. A structured pretested questionnaire was administered among final year nursing students. Although respondents had adequate knowledge about the risk factors, signs and symptoms and preventive measures of diabetes, their knowledge levels on dietary management of diabetic conditions were poor in the areas of fat intake, use of glycemic index diets, reduction of intake of refined carbohydrate foods and alcohol intake in diabetic patients. The knowledge levels of the nursing students regarding the nutritional management of diabetes were not optimal, underscoring and perhaps suggesting the need to improve upon the content areas of nutrition courses that are taught in Nursing Training Institutions. It is recommended that dietitians are included in developing the curriculum of nutrition-related courses for training nurses.