Inpatient Diabetes Distress Screening And Education

Diabetes distress is stress experienced from the burden of managing diabetes. This thesis took the form of a quality improvement project to improve assessment and intervention of diabetes distress for inpatients with diabetes at Duke University Hospital. The analysis used a pre and post educational intervention design with description analysis of patient/nurse feedback. The Diabetes Distress Screening tools assessed the prevalence and severity of diabetes distress, and the patient/nurse feedback described the interventions effectiveness and feasibility. Of the 33 patients screened for diabetes distress, 18 (54%) scored positive for distress. Intervention participants (n = 12) reported moderate to high levels of all four subscales of diabetes distress with notably high levels of emotional burden and regimen-related distress. Participants reported that the educational intervention was helpful and meaningful. Nurses (n = 3) identified time and nursing workload as barriers to implementing the screening. Diabetes distress assessment, general education on coping skills, and peer support resources can be incorporated into standard diabetes care. Quality improvement efforts should focus on automating diabetes distress screening into existing nursing assessments and tailoring diabetes distress education for inpatients.