Abstract

An ex post facto design was used to examine the effects exhibited at the site of injection by elderly diabetics who reused disposable insulin syringes and those who do not reuse syringes. The hypothesis for the study was: There will be no significiant differences in effects exhibited at the site of injection by elderly diabetics who reuse disposable insulin syringes and those who do not reuse disposable syringes. Orem’s Self Care Deficit Model was used to guide the research. The sample (n=42) consisted of elderly insulin dependent diabetics who had reused disposable insulin syringes (ji=15), and those who had never reused syringes (ri=27). All subjects were of the white race with 24 (57.1%) females and 18 (42.9%) males. The mean age was 76 years. The number of years the subjects had diabetics ranged from 2 to 53 years (jn= 19.7 years). The number of years each respondent had taken insulin ranged from 1 to 53 years (jn = 10.2). Data were collected using the Turner Effects of Syringe Reuse Tool, a research adapted instrument and were analyzed using tw o-tailed _t-test. Findings revealed no significant difference in effects exhibited at the site of injection by elderly diabetics who reused disposable insulin syringes and those who did not reuse syringes. Additional findings revealed certain characteristic differences, demographic differences, and opinion and insulin practice habit differences between nonreusers and reusers. I l l Conclusions drawn from this research were consistent with previous research when applied to the elderly population. Implications for care of the elderly insulin dependent diabetics utilizing the c l i n i c i a n , e d u c a t o r , and r e s e a r c h e r roles was e s t a b l i s h e d . Recommendations for further research using a larger sample size from a more inclusive population and setting, and a longitudinal study was made. Also, conduction of research to solicit more information on syringe reuse frequency, duration, and practice habits to establish if there is a safe number of reuses for syringes was recommended. The need of a repetitive study to include a demographic and characteristic profile of reusers and nonreusers was established. Recommendations for a repetitive study using the Turner Effects of Insulin Syringe Reuse Tool to establish tool validity and reliability was given. In addition, the findings of this research needs to be presented to the Center for Disease Control, Federal Food and Drug Administration and the American Diabetes Association to effect a change in policy universally.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

7-1-1990

Publication Number

27919853

First Advisor

Dr. Mary Patricia Curtis

Second Advisor

Ray Reeves

Document Type

Thesis

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