title: In-hospital bedside blood glucose monitoring: the importance of a quality control program.
abstract: This study examined the adequacy of a quality control program to assure accuracy of blood glucose monitoring performed at the bedside by nurses in a general pediatric hospital. A standard quality control program during which all nurses received inservice training and demonstrated proficiency resulted in accuracies (percentage of values within 15% of the laboratory) of only 68.6% and 69.2% over two successive 3-month periods. A standardized refresher course did not improve accuracy. Expansion of the program to include identification and reinstruction of individual nurses who had more than 20% of their blood glucose measurements more than 10% off the laboratory value or any one value more than 40% off the laboratory during the previous quarter resulted in improved accuracies (83%, 78%, and 91%) over three successive 3-month periods. These findings indicate that a systemic quality control program including individual monitoring and remedial retraining is required to improve the long-term accuracy of bedside blood glucose monitoring by nurses in a general pediatric hospital.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Stoverock
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Santiago
mesh_terms: D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D008923:Missouri; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care