Published online Feb 6, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i4.774
Peer-review started: October 25, 2020
First decision: November 20, 2020
Revised: December 4, 2020
Accepted: December 17, 2020
Article in press: December 17, 2020
Published online: February 6, 2021
Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. The number of type 1 diabetes patients in China still ranks fourth in the world. Therefore, children with type 1 diabetes in China are a group that needs attention. The management of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) involves many aspects of daily life. It is extremely challenging for children and their families. T1DM children have complex medical care needs. Despite the continuous development of therapeutic medicine and treatment technologies, blood glucose control in children with T1DM is still not ideal. They and their parents need to acquire more knowledge and skills before being discharged.
To explore the influence of hospital discharge plan based on parental care needs of children with T1DM on discharge readiness, quality of discharge education and blood glucose control level.
In total, 102 parents of children with type 1 diabetes were divided into control group and intervention group according to admission time. Fifty cases from February to June 2019 were selected as the control group, and 52 cases from July to October 2019 were selected as the intervention group to implement the discharge plan. The Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale, Hospital Discharged Education Quality Scale and children's blood glucose metabolism indicators were used to compare the differences in discharge preparation, discharge education quality and blood glucose control between the two groups of children and their parents.
On the day of discharge, the two groups of children had the following scores of readiness for discharge: The intervention group score was 225.34 ± 32.47, and the control group score was 208.68 ± 29.31. The P value was 0.007, and the difference was statistically significant. The discharge education quality scores were as follows: The intervention group score was 135.11 ± 19.86, the control group score was 124.13 ± 15.56, the P value was 0.002 and the difference was statistically significant. Three months after discharge, the blood glucose metabolism indicator showed that the glycosylated hemoglobin value of the two groups was (7.45% ± 1.04%), and that of the control group was (8.04% ± 1.27%), P = 0.012. Therefore, the improvement of parents' readiness for discharge, quality of discharge education and blood glucose metabolism indicators (glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting blood glucose and postprandial blood glucose) in the intervention group were better than those in the control group (P < 0.05), and the difference was statistically significant.
The discharge plan for children with T1DM can help the children and their families realize the transition from hospital care to home self-management and improve the parents' readiness for discharge, thereby improving children’s blood glucose control levels.
Core Tip: Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease in children. T1DM children have complex medical care needs. They and their parents need to acquire more knowledge and skills before being discharged from the hospital. It is extremely challenging for children who are in an important stage of physical and psychological transformation and their families. The implementation of hospital discharge plan oriented to the needs of parental caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus can better prepare family caregivers for the transition from hospital care to self-management at home, thereby improving home self-management capabilities and children’s blood glucose control levels.