The role of a school nurse in the care of a child with diabetes mellitus type 1 - the perspectives of patients and their parents: Literature review
Article Category: Review Article
Published Online: Jun 21, 2018
Page range: 166 - 174
Received: Sep 23, 2017
Accepted: May 16, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2018-0021
Keywords
© 2018 National Institute of Public Health, Slovenia, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The aim of this literature review was to explore the views of parents and children with type 1 diabetes mellitus regarding having a school nurse.
Methods
Six databases were selected for the analysis. The research strategy was based on the PICO model. The research participants were children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and/or their parents.
Results
The present review of research papers includes 12 publications. The majority of works deal with the perspectives of children with type 1 diabetes and their parents on various aspects related to the role of a school nurse in the care of a child with type 1 diabetes:
the presence of a school nurse; the role of a school nurse in the prevention and treatment of hypoglycaemia, in performing the measurements of blood glucose, and in insulin therapy; the role of a nurse in improving metabolic control of children with type 1 diabetes; a nurse as an educator for children with type 1 diabetes, classmates, teachers, teacher’s assistants, principals, administrators, cafeteria workers, coaches, gym teachers, bus drivers, and school office staff; a nurse as an organiser of the care for children with type 1 diabetes.
Conclusions
According to parents and children with type 1 diabetes mellitus, various forms of school nurse support (i.e., checking blood glucose, giving insulin, giving glucagon, treating low and high blood glucose levels, carbohydrate counting) are consistently effective and should have an impact on the condition, improvement of metabolic control, school activity and safety at school.