A nursing educational intervention helped by One Touch UltraSmart improves monitoring and glycated haemoglobin levels in type I diabetic children.
OBJECTIVE
To improve the monitoring and control of glycated haemoglobin in insulin-dependent children. This article describes an educational intervention for this purpose where One Touch UltraSmart Software was used to manage diabetes. The results showed that this intervention helped to reduce the levels of blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin to less than 7%.


BACKGROUND
Various research studies have been performed on the effective control of glycated haemoglobin values in diabetic children by means of technological devices. However, none of this research has evaluated the impact of an educational intervention in conjunction with the use of monitoring instruments such as One Touch UltraSmart.


METHODS
We present an 18-month longitudinal, analytical and observational study of 37 type 1 diabetic patients, 9-16 years of age. For each patient, initial and final values of glycated haemoglobin and the number of blood glucose controls were recorded.


METHODS
For the purposes of our study seven educational workshops, attended by diabetic children and their parents, were conducted. In addition, participants were asked to complete a brief questionnaire so that information could be gathered regarding the eating and exercise habits of the patients.


RESULTS
This educational intervention using One Touch UltraSmart led to a statistically significant average reduction of glycated haemoglobin.


CONCLUSIONS
Our research showed that the use of One Touch UltraSmart in the context of an educational intervention raised the awareness of the diabetic children and thus helped them to effectively control their disease and to fully understand the necessity of having good dietary and exercise habits.


CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the educational intervention led to a significant improvement in the dietary habits of these patients and also helped them to exercise regularly, all of which has a positive impact on their health.
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Healthcare Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. mariajaguilar@telefonica.net
María J
MJ
Aguilar
Pedro A
PA
García
Emilio
E
González
María C
MC
Pérez
Carlos A
CA
Padilla
D000293:Adolescent; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000097:blood* / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy; D003927:Diet, Diabetic; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013030:Spain; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D001786:Blood Glucose; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D007328:Insulin