Experiences of Clinic Nurses Regarding Diabetes Education in Turkey

According to the data of National Certification Board for Diabetes Educators (NCBDE) approximately 1723 health professionals received a diabetes educator certificate in 2014. It is stated that the percentage of nurses having the certificate is 0.02%–19.6% in Turkey. In 2015 it is emphasized that 491 nurses received a diabetes nursing certificate in Turkey. The number of patients per certified diabetic nurse is high and the number of certified nurses is seriously inadequate to meet the training requirement of 6.5 million diabetics in Turkey. In hospitals it is proposed that the hospital management plan diabetes education to be given to nurses (especially nurses working in internal medicine departments) in order to increase the rates of education given to diabetic patients.