Title : Exploration of Iranian diabetes nurse duties
Abstract:
Objectives: The present study, tried to identify and describe the context based duties of postgraduate diabetes nurse specialist.
Materials and Methods: This needs assessment study was performed using modified Delphi technique in Isfahan in 2014- 2015. The study population consisted of patients with diabetes and their families, nurses, endocrinologists, diabetologists and nursing faculty members. This study was conducted in three rounds: At first in qualitative interviews and focus groups, the duties and tasks of diabetes nurse specialist were extracted, then a questionnaire was designed and in two consecutive rounds, the experts expressed their opinions about the tasks till the complete consensus.
Results: The first round of modified Delphi technique led to 500 initial codes. According to these codes, the 164 duties were classified to 7 categories. In the second round, the experts reached to 100% consensus in 126 tasks. Participants commented, 75 of the 126 duties were overlapping and thus were eliminated. In the last round of the study according to the opinions of the experts, the 15 more tasks were added to the previous list. Finally, task description of Iranian Diabetes Nurses was developed with 6 tasks in the field of professional responsibilities, 17 tasks in the area of education, 25 tasks in the field of Caring and treatment, 6 tasks in society and 13 tasks in management.
Conclusions: This study led to identification and classification of diabetes nurse specialist duties. The findings can help policy makers and nursing faculties to develop task based educational programs for nurses in diabetes management.
Keywords: Delphi Technique, Nurse Specialist, Diabetes Mellitus, Professional Role, Iran. Keywords: Delphi Technique, Nurse Specialist, Diabetes Mellitus, Professional Role, Iran.
