title: Protocolised inpatient care of diabetes mellitus.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of hyperglycaemia in patients with diabetes mellitus at admission is high. Prevention and treatment is important to prevent further clinical complications. We have conducted a study evaluating implementation of a new protocol to standardise inpatient care of patients with diabetes mellitus.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study including all glucose measurements of adult patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 o r 2 , admitted to a surgery department, was performed before and after implementation of the new protocol. This protocol included direct consultation of an internist and diabetes specialist nurse at admission, who initiated a daily treatment program and adjustment scheme based on glucose measurements four times a day by the HemoCue201DM glucose point of care device. We compared the prevalence of hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia before and after implementation with logistic regression analyses adjusted for age and gender.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 360 patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 or 2 with 5322 glucose measurements were included. The risk of developing hyperglycaemia was significantly reduced after implementation of the protocol (22 patients with 65 hyperglycaemias) compared with before the intervention (70 patients with 417 hyperglycaemias) (RR adjusted 0.24 (95% confidence interval 0.19; 0.32)). Overall, 45 patients experienced 95 episodes of hypoglycaemia, which did not differ significantly between the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After implementation of a new protocol to standardise inpatient care of diabetes mellitus we established a decrease in the risk to develop hyperglycaemia of 76% without an increased risk of developing hypoglycaemia. Implementation of this protocol required frequent glucose measurements which are facilitated by point of care glucose measurements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Maasstad Hospital, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Noord
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kos
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Wulkan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alkemade
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dekker
authors.forename: L J D M
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Schelfhout
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Linden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001786:Blood Glucose; D002985:Clinical Protocols / Q000592:standards; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000517:prevention & control; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents