Examining the malpractices of diabetic individuals self-injecting insulin and the associated factors

This descriptive study was conducted to examine the malpractices of diabetic individuals who self-injected insulin as well as the associated factors. The study was conducted with 110 patients with diabetes who were hospitalized in all internal medicine clinics at Gaziantep 25 December Public Hospital between 9 September and 30 December 2016 and were undergoing treatment in the dialysis unit. In the study, the data were collected by using a questionnaire and an insulin injection observation form. The data were evaluated by using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) packaged software and analyzed by using number, percentage, mean, t test, One- Way ANOVA, correlation analysis, and chi-square test. 72.7% of individuals who participated in the study were female; 86.4% were married and 42.7% were illiterate. 56.4% of the individuals were overweight (obese). 98.2% of the patients were self-injecting for more than one year; 40.9% self-injected insulin twice a day; 80% had no idea about the length of pen needles and 49.1% applied injection mostly in the abdominal area. 52.7% of the patients had lump/swelling (lipohypertrophy) and 65.5% had bleeding/bruising in the injection area. It was determined that 69.9% of individuals were trained on insulin by a diabetes training nurse; 24.5% were trained within the last one year, and 70.9% had not had their injection sites checked by physicians or nurses. Illiterate patients with diabetes had higher metabolic parameters than others (p=0.016). It was found that patients made malpractices at different rates in all stages of insulin application. A comprehensive and regular training on all aspects of diabetes and the use of insulin, as well as regular follow-up of individuals by physicians and nurses will increase the awareness of patients regarding diabetes, diabetes complications and insulin treatment and decrease the rate of malpractices.