"My diabetes, my insulin": Self-administration of insulin in hospital

People with diabetes are encouraged to manage their own diabetes on a day-to-day basis; however, when they are admitted to hospital, this is often not the case and dangerous errors can occur. If the self-management of diabetes is to be successfully implemented in hospital,then ward-based staff need to develop the skills and knowledge required to support this. This article describes a 8cascade training programme in Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to enable ward-based nurses to assess their patients' ability to administer their own insulin and support self management. In addition, the authors audited compliance with Trust guidance for the self-administration of insulin.