Polish diabetes nurses and safety pen needles: a qualitative study

A leading maker and distributor of medical equipment and accessories commissioned PMR to conduct qualitative research with diabetes nurses in Poland about safety pen needles. A few months earlier we had completed a similar project on the Spanish market for this client.

Aim

As in Spain, the client wanted to explore nurses’ experiences and preferences regarding the use of needles for insulin injection. But the study also had a more specific purpose, namely to test the client’s safety pen needle with Polish nurses. What do practitioners in Poland think about the product, and its innovative way of protecting against needle-stick injuries after injection? Will they use it? Are there any changes that should be made to the product?

Method

As with the Spanish project, we decided to conduct focus group discussions with a total of 12 nurses. We invited nurses who had worked with diabetes patients for at least several years. They were divided into two focus groups, depending on their level of experience with safety pen needles. The first group consisted of nurses who had never used safety pen needles. The other group consisted of nurses who had known and used safety pen needles from several different manufacturers. The PMR study covered the following points:

• the situations and ways in which nurses use insulin needles of different types,
• the most common hazards faced by nurses working with diabetic patients,
• the advantages and disadvantages of using safety medical devices, including safety pen needles for insulin administration,
• testing the client’s safety pen needle: an in-depth qualitative evaluation of the product by nurses
• the client’s product vs. competing products: a comparison

The test phase enabled identification of what the most important elements and features of the product were from nurses’ point of view; and possible changes that might further reduce risks and boost practitioners’ sense of safety. Participants also evaluated the client’s solution for preventing needle-stick injuries after injection from all sorts of angles, including the quality of the material used, ergonomics, comfort of use, intuitiveness and simplicity, and general sense of safety.

Outcome

Careful recruitment ensured that our focus group participants all had in-depth knowledge and practical experience of the subject matter. As a result, our experts were able to gather invaluable practitioner input about the client’s safety pen needle, its strengths and weaknesses, the contexts in which it might be used, and potential problems.

Based on that, we formulated a set of conclusions and recommendations that we believed should inform product optimisation. We suggested modifications that might enhance the product’s appeal for potential users.

The final report of the study’s findings, in English, also provided a wealth of information about the preferences and expectations of Polish diabetes nurses, and about the needs of the patients they are working with.