647-P: Role of Diabetes Educators in Providing Insulin Pump Training for School Nurses and School Physicians—Kuwait Experience Free

Objective: to investigate the impact of basic insulin pump training for school nurses and physicians on knowledge and confidence in caring for type1 diabetes[T1D] students using insulin pump therapy [IPT].

Methods: In groups of 15 healthcare professionals, a pediatric diabetologist and 3 diabetes educators (who are certified pump trainers) provided basic pump training for 137 healthcare providers, who were novice to IPT. For a duration of 4 hours, the training included 2 interactive lectures about IPT, management protocols of hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia and ketosis, followed by hands-on insulin pump workshop. Pre and post knowledge assessment about IPT management was performed using a 10-item knowledge questionnaire. Pre and post confidence level were assessed with a 9-item questionnaire using Likert’s scale T.

Results: 62 school nurses (7males) mean age 41.5 ± 11.7, with school experience of 8.8 ± 9.1 y and 75 school physicians (13 males), mean age 36.25 ± 6.2, with school experience 3.4 ± 1.5 y; attended the mentioned training. Pre and post knowledge assessment and confidence level scores were compared using Pearson’s correlations. Significant improvement in knowledge were found for both schools' physicians (r=0.007) and nurses (r=0.01). Additionally, significant improvement in confidence in caring for T1D students on insulin pump were found for both school physicians (p-value=0.047) and school nurses (p-value=0.018).

Conclusion: Pre-assessment showed the lack of knowledge and low confidence of school healthcare professionals about IPT. Significant improvement in knowledge and confidence in caring for T1D students who are on IPT resulted from the delivery of these workshops, which proved the effective role of diabetes educators to pump the knowledge and skills and enhanced their confidence in providing essential management for students at schools.