6^th World Nursing and Healthcare Conference

Biography

Biography: Seyda Ozcan

Abstract

Diabetes is an emerging health problem. Accordingly, number of people with diabetes doubled in the last 15 years in Turkey. Nurses need to be powered to deal with the burden of growing number of patients. The study which is a Turkish arm of SEND(Study of European Nurses in Diabetes) explored the role performance and job satisfaction of diabetes nurses in Turkey. Methods: Postal or electronic questionnaires were sent to the diabetes nurses via diabetes nurses network. In addition, the participants of the annual diabetes symposia filled the printed questionnaires. Finally, the study comprised of 161 diabetes nurses. Questionnaire included the questions regarding structure, process, and outcomes of the work of diabetes nurses, their role performance, and job satisfaction. Findings: Majority (72%) worked over 2 years as diabetes nurse. All nurses(n= 161) had full-time position, over 80% were employed in the inpatient and outpatient diabetes services of university and state hospitals. Of participants, 77% reported that their centers had over 1000 patients with diabetes in a year. Seventy-seven percent worked in the cities while the remaining participants worked in small towns and urban areas. Diabetes nurses had heavy workload; 24% of nurses cared and educated 2000 or more patients in a year. Half of participants reported that at least 20% of their patients were low educated. Most diabetes nurses provide diabetes care on individual base. Findings explored the roles of diabetes nurses as expert practitioner / care giver, educator, consultant, administrator, collaborator / liaison, change agent / innovator. The mean score of general job satisfaction was high (Mean±SD:4.03±0.83; min: 1-max: 5). Conclusion: Diabetes nurses showed high performance in their professional roles. Although they had heavy workload, their job satisfaction was high. Key-words: Diabetes nurse, role performance, job satisfaction