Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: In Tunisia, only about 10% of people with diabetes practice self-injecting insulin analogues. It is 1 Tunisian adult out of 11 who is affected directly by diabetes. Our goal is to assess diabetes patients’ knowledge of insulin injection techniques.

Patients and methods: Prospective study of 56 cases of type 2 diabetic patients in the Endocrinology Department CHU Hedi Chaker Sfax Tunisia. All patients had a questionnaire and clinical examination.

Results: Most hospitalized patients (75%) were between 40-66 years old. With male predominance (sex ratio H / F 2). The majority 65% of our diabetic patients had diabetes evolving for more than 14 years. Only 25% of the patients use the analogues regularly and journaled against 65% find insulin injection difficulties similar 25% forgotten, 35% lack of means to buy the special needles of the pens, and others by the refusal the assumption of responsibility by the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM). The most commonly used insulin therapy regimen is two injections (60%). Patients self-inject insulin analogue in 65% of cases. Only 10% of the cases respect the standards of storage. On the other hand, 75% do not disinfect either the hands or the injection site. The preferred site was the dominant limb arm in 75% of cases. Only 50% introduce the needle without skin fold at 90 ° and inject the insulin dose by pushing on the plunger without forcing. The maintenance of the system in place for 10 s was respected only in 20% of patients. In this work. Only 25% of diabetic patients had a good glycemic control (HbA1 c=6.8%) who practice similar injections.

Conclusions: A mastery of insulin injection techniques is of paramount importance to achieve a good balance of diabetes; hence the role of the nurse in diabetic and therapeutic education.