АНАЛІЗ ПОІНФОРМОВАНОСТІ ВЧИТЕЛІВ ТА МЕДИЧНИХ ПРАЦІВНИКІВ ЩОДО ЦУКРОВОГО ДІАБЕТУ В ДІТЕЙ

Purpose: to determine the level of awareness of teachers and healthcare workers in educational institutions about the main manifestations of diabetes and diabetic acute complications in children. Materials and Methods. A survey was conducted among employees of educational institutions of pedagogical and medical specialties in the city of Ternopil. In compliance with anonymity and bioethics rules, questionnaires from 102 people (55 teachers and 47 medical workers) were surveyed and analysed. Standard methods of descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and the distribution of variables was assessed using the chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test. Results. The number of points for correct answers among teachers ranged from 4 to 22 out of a possible 23, while among medical workers it ranged from 16 to 23. The peak number of points among teachers was between 16 and 18, and among medical workers it was 19. In total, the number of correct answers given by all respondents to all questions was 1,808 (77.07 %) out of a possible 2,346. In particular, the number of correct answers among all surveyed teachers was 912 (72.09 %) out of 1,265, and among medical workers, 896 (82.88 %) out of 1,081 possible answers. The number of teachers who gave correct answers to more than 70 % of the questions was 30 (54.55 %), while the number of medical workers was 42 (89.36 %) (p < 0.05). Just over a third of the teachers (19, or 34.55 %) knew that the mainstay of treatment for type 1 diabetes is multiple daily insulin injections, while 12 (21.82 %) of those surveyed found it difficult to answer. The most controversial issue was the indications for insulin therapy, which less than 50 % of respondents from both groups answered correctly. Conclusions. The results show that teaching and medical staff at educational institutions need training and clear official guidelines to improve their knowledge of diabetes in children and adolescents in general, and, in particular, to acquire up-to-date knowledge and skills for recognising and preventing acute diabetic conditions in preschoolers and schoolchildren of child and adolescent age, for their safety, socialisation and comfort during school and extracurricular, educational and recreational activities.