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).