In-Hospital Administration of Insulin by Nurses in Northern Greece: An Observational Study

Insulin Injection Technique and Related Complications in Patients With Diabetes in a Northwest City of China

OBJECTIVES

Appropriate insulin injection technique can help to enhance positive clinical outcomes in insulin-treated patients. This cross-sectional survey was undertaken to assess the present state of injection technique practices of patients administering insulin and the incidence of local complications associated with insulin injection.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted at 11 tertiary hospitals in Xi'an City. A total of 1370 patients with diabetes were enroled in the survey. Each patient was asked questions on the Injection Technique questionnaire, demonstrated insulin injection on an injection training pad and had their injection sites inspected by a nurse.

RESULTS

About 98% of participants were type 2 diabetic patients. The 5 mm length needles were used by 640 (46.71%) patients. Around 1286 participants reused pen needles. Only one-third of patients rotate the injection sites. Around 901 patients had ecchymosis at injection sites, 43 participants suffered rash and or pruritus and 661 patients had lipohypertrophy. About 2.99% of patients reported having infection at the injection sites. Most patients (72.55%) occasionally felt pain when injecting insulin. The results of the multivariable logistict analysis showed that gender (male), needle length, priming the pen before injections and correct site rotation were negatively associated with the incidence of injection site ecchymosis. Lower incidence of lipohypertrophy was associated with needle length 4 mm, needle length 6 mm, single use of pen needles, priming the pen before injections and correct site rotation. Higher incidence of injection site infection was related to not disinfecting injection sites before each injection.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite some improvements detected in some aspects of patients' insulin injection practice in recent years, a large gap still exists between insulin injection guidelines and patients' actual injection behaviour. Injection-related complications at injection sites are still considerably common among our study population. Patients' education regarding insulin injection technique should be conducted repeatedly and regularly to make sure patients' compliance to injection guidelines.

Analysis of factors affecting the accuracy of low-dose insulin dosage using syringes and vials: a cross-sectional study in a Japanese regional hospital

While several studies have shown that insulin pens are more convenient and accurate than conventional administration with syringes and vials (syringes/vials), there is a frequent need for low-dose insulin injections administered by nurses using syringes/vials in hospital settings, particularly for critically ill patients. However, there is a lack of research investigating factors related to the accuracy of low-dose insulin administration using syringes/vials, particularly in hospital settings. We therefore performed a cross-sectional study to assess the accuracy of low-dose insulin administration by registered nurses using syringes/vials and to determine whether time of day, years of experience and adherence to proper injection procedures (vertical insertion/drawing and air bubble checking) affected the accuracy. The participants were 33 registered nurses working in the diabetes ward, and a total of 198 trials were analyzed. Using syringes/vials, the median errors converted to insulin units were found to be 0.6 units for the 2- and 6-unit target doses, and 0.7 units for the 10-unit target dose. In cases with the largest error, errors for the 2-, 6-, and 10-unit target doses were observed to be 2.3, 4.0, and 3.3 units, respectively. In our study, time of day, years of experience and vertical insertion/drawing did not correlate with errors, but errors were significant in the participants who did not check for air bubbles. Nurses can make non-negligible dosage errors when administering low-dose insulin using syringes/vials, and this is particularly likely when air bubble checks are missed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13340-024-00726-5.

Hyperglycemic Patterns in Acute Stroke Patients

Background and objective Hyperglycemia following a stroke can independently aggravate the ischemic area. Ensuring adequate glucose management can help avoid complications and minimize mortality and disability in these patients. This study aimed to investigate hyperglycemic patterns in acute stroke patients. Materials and methods We conducted a non-interventional prospective observational study involving acute stroke patients by employing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for 72 hours after the onset of stroke symptoms. Admission glucose, patients' total mean glucose (TMG), and time in range (TIR) (70-140 mg/dl) were correlated with the hyperglycemic patterns elicited by the CGM system software. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) with descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and χ2 test. Results Our cohort comprised 105 diabetic and non-diabetic stroke patients. The hyperglycaemic patterns that we observed were as follows: (i) hyperglycemia from 23:00 to 10:00, (ii) 06.00 to 10.00, (iii) at night and after meals, iv) no pattern, v) unspecified patterns. Patients with nocturnal and morning hyperglycemia had admission glucose of 183 mg/dl, mean 72-hour glucose of 156 mg/dl, and TIR of 37%. Patients who did not develop a hyperglycemic pattern either had admission glucose of 131 mg/dl and TIR of 89% or had high admission glucose (197 mg/dl) and a short TIR (14%). Conventional pre-meal capillary glucose tests do not appear to detect these patients' hyperglycemic tendencies. Conclusions These results may indicate the necessity for more intensive measurements during the night or dawn in this patient population. Admission glucose could be considered a predictor of hyperglycemic patterns and contribute to the patient's care plan.

A Nationwide Cross-sectional Survey of Knowledge and Practices of Diabetes Drug Injection Techniques of Patients, Nurses, and Physicians: The China IT Improve Study

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the knowledge and practices of diabetes drug injection techniques of diabetes patients, nurses, and physicians to support formulating national guidelines for standardized diabetes drug injection techniques.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this nationwide multicenter cross-sectional survey conducted between November and December 2020, patients, nurses, and physicians were randomly chosen from 250 primary, 150 secondary, and 100 tertiary care hospitals using the stratified cluster sampling method. Their knowledge and/or practices of diabetes drug injection techniques were surveyed using the Diabetes Drug Injection Knowledge and Practice Questionnaire for Physicians, Nurses, and Patients.

RESULTS

In total, 10,694, 2643, and 2816 eligible questionnaires were collected from patients, physicians, and nurses, respectively. Overall, 78.2% (7588/9709) type 2 diabetes patients failed to attain the target hemoglobin A1c. Hypoglycemic episodes and lipohypertrophy occurred in 19.8% and 34.7% of the patients, respectively. Needle reuse (odds ratio, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.33) and incorrect injection site rotation (odds ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.16 to 1.51) were associated with failure to attain the target hemoglobin A1c. Overall, 48.9% physicians and 20.4% nurses had a poor knowledge domain score. Care setting and training, diabetes care experience, and regions were significant determinants of diabetes drug injection knowledge domain scores in both physicians and nurses.

CONCLUSION

Poor glycemic control, occurrences of injection-associated complications in diabetes patients, and poor knowledge domain scores of a subset of physicians and nurses highlight the importance of regular assessment and education regarding diabetes drug injection techniques for physicians and nurses and development of national guidelines for diabetes drug injection.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2100045302).

An analysis of the effect of syringe barrel volume on performance and user perception

In the market, there are many types and shapes of syringes. One of the groupings of syringe types is based on barrel volume. The shape of the product design affects performance and user perception. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of barrel volume on its performance and user perception. We performed analysis following international organization for standardization 7886 procedures on syringe with 1 mL, 3 mL, 5 mL, and 10 mL volume. In addition, a user perception test was conducted on 29 respondents using a questionnaire with the Likert chart method. This study indicates that the bigger the syringe volume, the larger the dead space and the force to operate the piston are. A larger syringe volume also raises the volume that changes due to the plunger position increase. Meanwhile, the barrel volume does not affect water and water leakage, as we did not observe any leak during the syringe tests in our experiment. In addition, the user perception test shows that the barrel's length influences the ease of device control during the injection. The volume of the barrel negatively correlated with its effect to the environment. The safety features of all syringes are similar except for the 3 mL syringe, which has a value of 0.1 points difference to other syringes.

Subcutaneous injections: A cross-sectional study of knowledge and practice preferences of nurses

BACKGROUND

Widespread use of subcutaneous injection for parenteral medications is likely to be related to high medication bioavailability and rapid onset of action. Correct subcutaneous injection technique and site selection are essential for nursing care quality and patient safety.

AIM

The study aimed to determine nurses' knowledge and practice preferences regarding subcutaneous injection technique and administration site selection.

DESIGN

This cross-sectional study took place between March and June 2021.

METHODS

This study included 289 nurses, willing to participate who worked in units performing subcutaneous injections in a university hospital in Turkey.

RESULTS

Most nurses reported their preferred administration site for subcutaneous injections was the lateral aspects of the upper arm. More than half of the nurses did not use a rotation chart, they swabbed the skin before a subcutaneous injection, and they always pinched the skin at the injection site; 50% of nurses reported always administering subcutaneous injections at an angle of either 90 or 45 degrees. Most nurses performed an injection in less than 30 s and waited for 10 s before withdrawing the needle. They did not apply massage onto the site following the injection. Nurses' knowledge of subcutaneous injection was at a moderate level.

CONCLUSIONS

Nurse knowledge of best practice subcutaneous injection administration and site selection could be improved in line with current evidence to improve personcentred and quality and safe care delivery. Future research should involve developing and evaluating educational strategies and practice standards to enhance nurse understanding of best practice evidence to meet patient safety goals.

Insulin injection knowledge, attitude and behaviour of nurses: A cross-sectional study in Guangdong Province

AIM

To understand the insulin injection knowledge, attitude and behaviour of nurses and their influencing factors in Guangdong Province.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

METHODS

A total of 19,853 nurses from 82 hospitals in 15 cities in Guangdong, China, participated in this study. The scores of the nurses' insulin injection knowledge, attitude and behaviour were determined through a questionnaire, and multivariate regression analysis was used to evaluate the influencing factors of insulin injection in different dimensions. STROBE.

RESULTS

Among all nurses involved in this study, 22.3% of nurses had good knowledge, 75.9% of nurses had good attitude and 92.7% of nurses had good behaviour. Pearson's correlation analysis showed that knowledge, attitude scores and behaviour scores were significantly correlated. The influencing factors of knowledge, attitude and behaviour included gender, age, education, nurse level, work experience, type of ward, diabetes nursing certification, position held and most recent insulin administration.

Why Do So Many People with Type 2 Diabetes Who Take Insulin Have Lipohypertrophy? Fate or Educational Deficiencies?

INTRODUCTION

Cutaneous lipohypertrophy (LH) is a thickened, "rubbery" lesion in the subcutaneous tissue following multiple injections performed at the same site, i.e., an incorrect injection technique. It is widespread, averaging 47% of insulin patients worldwide, and has severe direct and indirect consequences. Direct consequences consist mainly of poor metabolic control and frequent hypoglycemic events (HYPOs), and indirect ones of markedly increased healthcare costs related to hospital access due to acute events and long-term disease complications. This observation also holds for Italy, despite the National Health System organization expecting every patient with diabetes to undergo a series of visits by different care team members, each performing a specific treatment/education task. Indeed, the recent literature points to poor awareness of LH relevance and metabolic consequences among doctors from general and diabetic hospital wards, with educational deficiencies on correct injection practice in nurses too. The aim was to establish if, to what extent, and by whom they had received training on correct insulin injection techniques, and how many initially received notions had persisted over time.

METHODS

We investigated the possible causes of such a failure from the point of view of 1160 insulin-requiring subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), reporting for the first time to specialized diabetic structures through a validated questionnaire and, in the same patients, we searched for LH by inspection/palpation according to international guidelines, further confirmed by ultrasound scans. We then analyzed differences in education and injecting behavior between subjects classified as LH+ or LH- depending on the presence or absence of LH lesions.

RESULTS

We documented significant educational gaps, with 50% of patients failing to refer to healthcare professionals and relying on their peers with diabetes, thought to be more experienced in 15% of the cases. Seventy-five percent of LH- patients received education from healthcare providers, while 90% of LH+ learned from another patient or could not remember how they knew, and 68% of LH+ versus 52% of LH- (p < 0.01) patients had failed to receive training on injection techniques by healthcare providers. All of this enabled the most disabling features of diabetes from the very beginning of the disease history.

CONCLUSIONS

This study documents, from the patients' point of view, that educational gaps are significant and that, even in initially trained subjects, education on correct injection techniques has a fleeting effect if not regularly recalled. Therefore, to rehabilitate LH+ patients as soon as possible and prevent LH- patients from inadvertently slipping into the other group, there is an urgent need to educate doctors and nurses repeatedly on the importance of correctly injecting insulin to improve patients' knowledge and skills.

Non-Specialized Nurses Roles in Diabetes Inpatient Care in Cyprus: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

Aim: The aim of the study was to understand how non-specialized nurses and people with diabetes understand nurses’ roles in diabetes inpatient care. Background: Diabetes mellitus is a major public health issue that places a significant burden on patients and healthcare systems and world leaders have targeted it for priority action. Design: An interpretative phenomenology approach (IPA). Methods: A total of 24 non-specialized nurses working in medical, surgical and nephrology wards and 24 people with type 1 diabetes who use the services of the state hospitals in Cyprus. The data were collected in two phases: firstly, focus groups with nurses (n = 1) and people with diabetes (n = 2) were conducted and analysed and then individual semi-structured interviews with nurses (n = 18) and with people with diabetes (n = 12) were conducted. Findings: It is evident from the study findings that nurses experience several roles in diabetes inpatient care. Most of these roles have been identified by people with diabetes as well. These roles are summarized as follows: medication administration, patient education, screening of complications, diet and psychological support. However, most of the participants raised concerns about nurses’ ability to conduct such roles. Conclusion: Participants suggest that nurses experience several roles in caring for diabetes inpatients and this view was also shared by people with diabetes. However, it was obvious that these roles differ between specialities. The findings showed that even though participants recognized a number of roles in diabetes inpatient care, their description of how they perform these roles was vague, and they raised concerns about their readiness to take on some of these roles.

Insulin Injection Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Nurses in China: A Cross-Sectional Nationwide Study

INTRODUCTION

To evaluate insulin injection knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nurses across China in order to provide reference for the formulation of a national unified standard of insulin injection practice and the targeted implementation of standardized training on insulin injection for nurses.

METHODS

We enrolled nurses who worked and injected insulin at grassroot hospitals including community health service centers and township clinics, secondary and tertiary care hospitals across China between July 28, 2019 and August 30, 2019. A nurse insulin injection knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire was used to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice level of nurses.

RESULTS

A total of 223,368 nurses were included in the study. The mean knowledge score was 13.70 ± 3.30 and 35.19% had a poor knowledge score. The mean attitude score was 17.18 ± 2.69 for the study nurses; merely 3.15% had a poor attitude score. The mean practice score of the study population was 83.03 ± 8.16 and only 0.88% had a poor practice score. Pearson correlation analysis showed significant correlation between the knowledge score and the attitude score (r = 0.29; P < 0.001), the knowledge score and the practice score (r = 0.27; P < 0.001), and between the attitude score and the practice score (r = 0.56; P < 0.001). A multivariate analysis revealed that nurses with higher knowledge scores were also more likely to have higher attitude scores and practice scores, and nurses with higher attitude scores were also more likely to have higher practice scores.

CONCLUSION

Chinese nurses have a good attitude and behavior towards insulin injection, while their knowledge of insulin injection is insufficient. It is also revealed that knowledge of insulin injection can directly or indirectly affect insulin injection behavior through attitude, indicating that hospitals should formulate unified insulin injection norms and regularly organize relevant training and assessment so as to improve nurses' knowledge, attitude, and behavior of insulin injection.

Is skin disinfection before subcutaneous injection necessary? The reasoning of Certified Nurses in Infection Control in Japan

Nurses continue to disinfect the skin before administering subcutaneous injections as a standard process in clinical settings; despite evidence that disinfection is not necessary. To implement evidence-based practice, it is critical to explore why this gap between "evidence" and "practice" exists. This study aimed to describe the reasons offered by Certified Nurses in Infection Control (CNIC) in Japan for performing skin disinfection before subcutaneous injection. Adopting an inductive qualitative design, interviews were conducted with 10 CNIC in 2013. According to the participants, skin disinfection before subcutaneous injection: (a) was common practice; (b) may have been beneficial if it was omitted; (c) adhered to hospital norms; (d) prevented persistent suspicion of infection; (e) had no detrimental effect; (f) was an ingrained custom; and (g) involved a tacit approval for not disinfecting in home care settings. The themes (c) and (g) were cited as the main reasons affecting decision-making. The CNIC administered injections following skin disinfection in hospitals in accordance with hospital norms. On the contrary, outside the hospital, they administered subcutaneous injections without skin disinfection. All themes except (b) and (g) reflect the barriers and resistance to omitting skin disinfection, while (g) shows that it is already partly implemented in home care settings. It is necessary to create a guideline for skin disinfection before subcutaneous injection that considers the quality of life of patients at home, their physical conditions, and the surrounding environment at the time of injection, in addition to the guidelines applicable in hospitals.

Assessment of Insulin Injection Practice of Nurses Working in a Tertiary Healthcare Center of Nepal

Introduction

Sound knowledge and good practice on insulin injection technique are essential for nurses in order to administer insulin correctly and to educate patients or their relatives adequately. This study aimed to assess the insulin injection practice through the use of insulin pen among nurses working in a tertiary healthcare center of Nepal.

Materials and Methods

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 67 nurses working in one of the tertiary healthcare centers of Nepal. Demographic information and insulin injection practice of nurses through the use of insulin pen were assessed using self-administered questionnaire. Each correct practice was scored “1” and incorrect practice was scored “0.” Results. The median (IQR) insulin injection practice score of nurses was 11 (9-12) out of 16. Thirty-seven (55.2%) nurses store insulin pen filled with insulin cartridge at room temperature while 57 (85.1%) nurses store unopened cartridge at refrigerator (2-8°C). The practice of hand washing and injection site cleaning was mentioned by 92.5% and 82.1% of the nurses, respectively. However, just over half of the nurses mix the premix (cloudy) insulin and prime insulin pen before each injection. Thirty-four (50.7%) nurses do not lift skin during injection and more than half of the nurses keep needle beneath the skin for less than 5 seconds after completely injecting the required dose of insulin. One out of ten nurses massage injection site after injecting insulin. Most of the nurses (86.6%) use single needle more than once and the median (IQR) frequency of needle reuse was 6 (3-12). Similarly, systematic site rotation was performed by 59 (88.1%) nurses and twenty (29.9%) nurses claim that they use single insulin pen for two different cartridges.

Conclusion

The insulin injection practice of nurses assessed through the use of insulin pen was suboptimal and highlights the need for urgent educational intervention.

Forum for Injection Technique and Therapy Expert Recommendations, India: The Indian Recommendations for Best Practice in Insulin Injection Technique, 2017

Health-care professionals in India frequently manage injection or infusion therapies in persons with diabetes (PWD). Patients taking insulin should know the importance of proper needle size, correct injection process, complication avoidance, and all other aspects of injection technique from the first visit onward. To assist health-care practitioners in their clinical practice, Forum for Injection Technique and Therapy Expert Recommendations, India, has updated the practical advice and made it more comprehensive evidence-based best practice information. Adherence to these updated recommendations, learning, and translating them into clinical practice should lead to effective therapies, improved outcomes, and lower costs for PWD.