title: Comparison of blood glucose management strategies to achieve control following cardiac surgery (computerized versus paper).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Blood glucose control can be time-consuming and difficult to achieve. We hypothesized that a computerized system to obtain glucose control would enable faster "time to target" and produce less variability in blood glucose levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who underwent cardiac surgery at a community hospital between January and December 2007 (n = 1131) with glucose control obtained under a paper protocol were compared with similar patients operated on between January and December 2008 (n = 769) whose glucose control was obtained with a computer-driven protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Glucose control was achieved in both groups. The computer group had less variability in glucose levels than the paper group. The mean time to target for the computer group was 3.5 (+/-1.3) hours. The time to target for the paper group was quite skewed; therefore, the median time to target was 6 hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The computer-driven protocol achieved excellent glycemic control.
authors.affiliation: Inova Heart and Vascular Institute, Falls Church, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Halpin
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dunning
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Niv
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ad
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D013504:Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose