Hassen, Fatuma (PhD)Yirsaw, Kidist2018-06-292023-11-062018-06-292023-11-062016-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/5088Back ground: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a syndrome characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, due to absolute or relative deficiency or diminished effectiveness of circulating insulin. Diabetes is becoming a serious public health problem and it requires continuous medical care, patients' self-management to reduce the risk of long-term complications. The most important objective of monitoring is the assessment of overall glycemic control and initiation of appropriate steps in a timely manner to achieve optimum control. Objective: To assess the knowledge attitude and practice of diabetic patients in blood glucose level monitoring at Tikur Anbesa Specialized Teaching and Referral hospital (TASTRH). Methodology: Facility based cross- sectional study was conducted from June 2015 to October 2015 at the outpatient diabetic clinic, TASTRH. Medical records of the patients were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 422 diabetic patients were selected using convenient sampling techniques. Structured questionnaires including checklist have been used to collect data. On-the-spot assessment of HbA1-c was performed for 95 study participants by using systematic sampling techniques to confirm diabetic patient’s practice. Statistical soft-ware SPSS version 20 had been used for data entry and analysis. Results: Among study subjects the levels of knowledge were good in 61.8 % and poor in 38.2 % of diabetic patients. The levels of attitude were also described accordingly as positive for 80.6% and negative for 19.4 % of diabetic patients. The levels of practice of study subjects were found to be good in 47.6 % and poor in 52.4% of diabetic patients. Knowledge and practices had a significant association with educational level and duration of therapy but attitude had a significant association with age. Among 95 study subjects 15.8% of the participants had good glycemic control of HbA1-c value < 6.5% and 84.2% of participants had poor glycemic control of HbA1-c value ≥6.5%. There was no significant association between HbA1-c value with knowledge and attitude scores but association was found between HbA1-c value and practice score, similarly no significant association was found between HbA1-c with body mass index and hypertension but significant association was found between HbA1-c and complications of study participants.enBlood GlucoseDiabetic’s PatientsThesis