Insulin Misusage And Affect of Insulin Education in the Elderly

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic illness that cause significant morbidity and mortality in the elderly. In older diabetic patients, insulin misusage could effect the glycemic control. There is insufficient evidence that elderly diabetics benefit from insulin education. METHODS: A total of 112 diabetic patients over 65 years of age who voluntarily participated in the study, who were taking insulin, and who applied to the outpatient clinic between July 2015 and April 2016 were included. The insulin use of the patients was assessed with 'Insulin Use Evaluation Form' and then insulin education was given. Four weeks later, patients were re-evaluated for insulin use. RESULTS: In our study the mean age was 71,85 +- 6,36. Of the patients, 76.8% had previously been trained to use insulin. 29,1% of patients were educated in the last one year and 70,9% were educated a year ago. However, all of the patients were found to have made at least one mistake in the insulin use steps. After training, significant improvement was observed in faulty applications. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results of our study demonstrated that educating elderly diabetic patients about insulin treatment may remarkably decrease insulin administration errors. We recommend that this training be repeated at regular intervals so that proper insulin use is permanent. We believe that long-term laboratory data will be improved with repeated insulin training and the complication rates related to diabetes will decrease.

Keywords

• insulin
• insulin misuse
• geriatrics
• diabetes mellitus