Nurses’ Competencies in Managing Diabetes Mellitus: Does Educational Qualification Matter?

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a major worldwide disorder that has significant adverse effects on people's lives as well as the economies and societies of every developed and developing countries. Competency relates to the knowledge, attitude, and skills of primary healthcare nurses in providing care for diabetes mellitus. This study aims to identify the association between nurses’ age, years of experience in nursing, years of experience in primary healthcare centers, duration of the course, number of courses in diabetes management and nurses’ competencies related to diabetes management. A descriptive correlational design was used to guide this study which was conducted in primary healthcare centers in the Nasiriya City for the period from January 7^th, 2024 to February 21^th, 2024. The study included a convenience sample of 239 nurses. The study instrument includes participants’ sociodemographic characteristics and Nurses' Competencies Scale. Data were collected through self-report and analyzed using the statistical package for social science, IBM version 27. The results revealed that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between number of training courses and professional attitudes. There are statistically significant differences in nurses’ competencies in terms of human understanding and communication skills, professional attitudes, general clinical performance, and nursing competencies among educational qualification groups. The researchers concluded that the more the training courses nurses participate in, the sounder the professional attitudes they constitute toward diabetes mellitus management. The higher the educational qualification, the better the nurses’ competencies in terms of human understanding and communication skills, professional attitudes, general clinical performance.