title: Institutional glucometrics to determine glucose control as practiced by general medicine wards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is currently recommended that capillary glucose levels of non-critically ill hospitalized diabetic patients be maintained at between 140 and 180 mg/dl. Implementation of these recommendations and evaluation of their effectiveness require that data regarding the glucose control of these hospitalized patients be accessible.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze glucose control and monitoring of all diabetic patients hospitalized in the general medicine wards of our medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Capillary glucose measurements of all diabetic patients hospitalized in our departments of medicine between June and December 2008 were recorded by a central computerized institutional glucometer. Median glucose values and frequency of daily glucose checks per patient were analyzed in the internal medicine wards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We evaluated 14,366 capillary measurements from 2475 patients; 43% were taken before breakfast and 25% before dinner. A median of one daily determination per patient was obtained. This number increased 1.4-fold in patients with hyperglycemia >200 mg/dl and 2.5-fold in patients with hypoglycemia. Seventy-five percent of the recorded glucose values were within the recommended target range, with a median daily level of 161 mg/dl and median fasting glucose of 142 mg/dl. A significant variance was found between wards.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The frequency of capillary glucose measurements in diabetic patients hospitalized in general medicine wards was low; most capillary glucose values, however, were within the recommended target range. The optimal monitoring of glucose in these patients remains to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine C and Diabetes Unit, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Zerifin, affiliated with Sackler Faculty Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel. andreabuchs@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andreas E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Buchs
authors.forename: Micha J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rapoport
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007297:Inpatients; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose