
Impact of Late Glucose Checks on Hypoglycemia Incidence
Objective
This retrospective, quantitative study examines 10 years of data to determine if and how the timing of blood glucose checks impacts incidence of hypoglycemia during intravenous insulin therapy (managed with EndoTool).
Setting
Cohort of five unaffiliated acute care hospitals.
Results
- Incidence of hypoglycemia <70 mg/dL was 0.233% among all blood glucose readings obtained less than or equal to 5 minutes late.
- Relative to baseline, risk of hypoglycemia was 50% higher among blood glucose readings obtained 15-25 minutes late and 200% higher (i.e., a three-fold increase) among blood glucose readings obtained more than 60 minutes late.
Conclusions
Late blood glucose checks contribute significantly to the risk of hypoglycemia, an observation that should not only be an important mainstay of bedside care education, but also strongly endorses use of (audible and/or visual) alerts for nurses to help maintain proper timing (as may be enabled in EndoTool).
Authors
W. Patrick Burgess, PhD, MD; Laura Dunlap, RN, BSN, GCHI; Jessie Scapinello, BSN, RN; Anderson Schrader; Alana Weber, RN, MSN, CCRN.
Source
Presented at American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions.
Year
2019
Tags
- Cost Savings
- Healthcare-Associated Infections
- Hospital-Acquired Conditions
- Hyperglycemia Reduction
- Hypoglycemia Reduction
- Length of Stay
- Surgical Site Infections
- Glucose Variability
- Mean Glucose Improvement
- Target Goal Attainment
- Time in Range
- Time on IV Insulin
- Time to Target
- Burn Injury
- Cardiac Surgery
- DKA/HHS Management
- Emergency Department
- Induced Hypothermia
- Intra-op Glucose Management
- Obstetrics/Labor & Delivery
- Pediatrics
- Residual Insulin Adjustment
- BG Check Compliance
- BG Test Reduction
- Nursing Satisfaction
- Protocol Adherence
- Provider Satisfaction
- Workflow Improvements