Abstract
Expeditious discharge of children with newly diagnosed diabetes is desirable for both psychological and financial reasons. Does length of hospitalization depend upon who is educating the child and family? This study compares the length of stay in newly diagnosed diabetic children educated by staff nurses (SN) with the length of stay of children educated by a clinical nurse specialist plus staff nurses (CNS/SN). The length of hospitalization of the CNS/SN group was significantly shorter (x = 6.2 days) than the SN group (x = 8.4 days; P<0.01). The two groups were not significantly different in age, admission serum pH, or admission blood glucose level, nor were they different in socioeconomic status or criteria for discharge. The ulitization of a CNS as a diabetes educator may significantly decrease the length of hospitalization of children with newly diagnosed diabetes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.