Why carry out this study?
|
Proper insulin injection technique has demonstrated positive clinical outcomes in patients with diabetes; however, the level of patient understanding of injection technique has not been recently examined. |
To investigate patient injection technique, 24 sites across Canada enrolled adult non-pregnant patients with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes injecting insulin using an insulin pen to evaluate the current state of understanding of injection technique practices by patients administering insulin. |
What was learned from the study?
|
All patients surveyed were making at least one insulin injection technique error. Of the patients surveyed, 5% were making one injection error, 22% were making two errors, 27% were making three errors, 22% were making four errors, 14% were making five errors, 6% were making six errors, and 2% were making seven errors. |
To reduce insulin injection errors, additional patient and physician education is required. |
Introduction
Methods
Study Design and Population
Inclusion Criteria
Procedure
Data Analysis
Compliance with Ethics Guidelines
Results
Physician Characteristics
n (%) | |
---|---|
Specialization | |
Family practice | 15 (62) |
Specialist | 9 (34) |
Region of practice | |
Ontario | 8 (33) |
Quebec | 8 (33) |
East | 2 (8) |
West | 6 (25) |
Practice type | |
Private | 12 (50) |
Hospital | 2 (8) |
Academic | 6 (25) |
Group | 11 (46) |
Other | 0 (0) |
Practice size | |
Small | 5 (21) |
Medium | 4 (17) |
Large | 15 (63) |
Years in practice | |
< 5 | 1 (4) |
5–9 | 2 (8) |
10–14 | 1 (4) |
15–25 | 7 (29) |
> 25 | 13 (54) |
Patient Characteristics
Characteristics (n = 230) | Mean | SD | Minimum | Maximum |
---|---|---|---|---|
Age, years | 61.3 | 13.6 | 19.0 | 87.0 |
Duration of diabetes, years | 16.6 | 10.2 | 1.0 | 58.0 |
HbA1c, % | 7.8 | 1.2 | 5.9 | 16.0 |
Type 1 diabetes, age | 61.3 | 13.6 | 19.0 | 80.0 |
Type 2 diabetes, age | 61.4 | 13.5 | 39.0 | 87.0 |
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Injection Site
Patients using this site n (%) | |
---|---|
Abdomen | 215 (93.5) |
Thigh | 85 (37.0) |
Arm | 29 (12.6) |
Buttock | 17 (7.4) |
Other | 0 (0) |
No. of sites used | Patients using this number of sites n (%) |
---|---|
1 | 141 (61.3%) |
2 | 65 (28.3%) |
3 | 21 (9.1%) |
4 | 3 (1.3%) |
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Area Size of Injection Site
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Pen Needle Length
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Pen Needle Duration in Skin
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Pen Needle Reuse
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Applied Injection Force
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Skin Lift
Patient Self-Injection Behaviour: Lipohypertrophic Tissue Injection
Physician Behaviours Surrounding Education of Patients
Correlation Between Number of Errors and Patient Characteristics
No. of errors vs age < median? | No. of errors vs male? | No. of errors vs type 1? | No. of errors vs family practice? | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pearson r | ||||
r | − 0.1089 | 0.04486 | 0.02939 | 0.2096 |
95% confidence interval | − 0.2350 to 0.02072 | − 0.08499 to 0.1732 | − 0.1003 to 0.1581 | 0.08247 to 0.3300 |
R2 | 0.01187 | 0.002012 | 0.0008639 | 0.04393 |
P value | ||||
P (two-tailed) | 0.0994 | 0.4984 | 0.6575 | 0.0014 |
P value summary | NS | NS | NS | ** |
Significant? (alpha = 0.05) | No | No | No | Yes |
Number of XY pairs | 230 | 230 | 230 | 230 |