Inadequate investment on management of diabetes education

Reforming and improving the patient education process need more insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the existing education process. There is little documentation on patient education in National Diabetes Prevention and Control Program in Iran, so the present study aimed to describe patient education process in diabetes centers in one of the provinces of Iran. This is a qualitative content analysis. Twelve nurses who work as diabetes nurse educators (DNEs) and an internal medicine specialist participated in this study. Data was obtained through semi-structured face-to-face interviews, a focus group, existing documents, field notes, and multiple observations. Data analysis was guided by the conventional approach of qualitative content analysis. Three main themes including unequipped trainers (insufficient knowledge and experience, lack of appropriate educational facilities, lack of time, lack of patient’s interest), unstructured education (lack of educational need assessment, lack of evaluation, lack of continuing patient education), unmanaged education (lack of official planning for patient education and supervising the education process) emerged from qualitative content analysis. Although patient education is one of the important strategies in National Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, there however has not been necessary investment and adequate space to achieve it. Patient education was not structured and based on scientific principles. Training of diabetes nurse educators (DNEs) is neglected, and there is no supervision on patient education process.