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Concerned about its inability to stabilize glucose levels in its most acutely ill patients, Wilson Memorial Hospital, a 71-bed community hospital, engaged a well-known glycemic benchmarking service. The service found the hospital in the lowest quartile of benchmarked hospitals nationwide. Knowing that hyperglycemia correlates with poor clinical outcomes and mortality in patients with and without a history of diabetes, naturally...

High blood sugar can result from hypothermia, which may be induced to improve neurologic outcome in unconscious patients. Certain patient populations, such as post-cardiac and post-cardiothoracic surgery, in particular, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of hyperglycemia. The evidence of a link between hyperglycemia and increased morbidity and mortality began emerging as early as the mid-1980s. While the results of...

Named one of the 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the nation, Holy Cross Hospital is a 571-bed hospital in seaside Broward County, Florida. Embracing a strategic intervention for unconscious cardiac arrest, brain injury and stroke patients, Holy Cross successfully introduced a hypothermia program. This program reduces core body temperature below 94° F [35° C] to improve neurologic recovery. However, such a...

How would you like to save your hospital almost $75,000 a year in potentially unreimbursed expenses? This was the realization Wilson Memorial Hospital, a 71-bed hospital in western Ohio, made when it decided it needed to find a better way to control blood glucose levels across the hospital. In 2007, Remote Automated Laboratory System, a glycemic benchmarking service, reported that...