Care for patients with diabetes mellitus in primary care: the role of nurses and their importance in the multidisciplinary team

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic disease that must be tracked and monitored by the entire primary care team, with nurses being a fundamental player in the support of this pathology. The aim was to analyze the role of nurses in assisting DM patients as a family health team. Integrative literature review with descriptive analysis and quantitative approach. The main scientific databases were consulted with keywords such as “diabetes mellitus”, “family health” and “primary care”, resulting in 16 more recent articles and 9 were selected for data analysis. The nurse is an integral part of a fundamental multidisciplinary team in the adhesion and monitoring of the DM patient, with several attributions from their reception in primary care to the continuity at home for life, with the main preventive action of complications, the encouragement of self-care.