P57 Diabetes Education during the COVID 19 Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes education is a fundamental tool to train, motivate and achieve adherence in people with diabetes. During the COVID 19 Pandemic, face-to-face diabetes education was suspended as a result of social and preventive isolation, virtual tools allowed us to continue educating our patients.

Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of virtual education in the acquisition of knowledge in people with Diabetes and its acceptance, using a virtual educational model during the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Material and methods: Between April and July 2020, virtual diabetes education workshops were held. Zoom was used as a virtual tool. An anonymous survey was conducted before and after each workshop to assess knowledge acquisition, using questions about continuous glucose monitoring. At the end of the workshops, an anonymous survey was carried out to find out which educational modality was preferred: face-to-face, virtual or semi-presential. Statistical evaluation: Chi test 2.

Results: Twenty-nine people with diabetes (25 women and 4 men), aged 47±12 years, undergoing in insulin treatment participated. The virtual modality was significantly more chosen by 70.59% (p 0.02) than the face-to-face 17.65% and semi-presential 11.76% (p< 0.0001) respectively. Results of the knowledge survey of the glycemic self-monitoring workshop are presented in Graphs 2 and 3. 100% of those surveyed considered the virtual workshops useful to clarify their doubts, 76% that participating helps to reduce the emotional impact of diabetes.

Conclusions: According to the results of our study, virtual workshops have been an effective tool in acquiring knowledge about Diabetes. Virtual education has been very well accepted by people with diabetes who participated in the meetings. The virtual educational model used during the COVID 19 Pandemic allows to maintain social and preventive isolation without interrupting the diabetes education of people living with diabetes.