title: Impact of a multifaceted strategy to improve perioperative diabetes care.
abstract: To assess the impact of a multifaceted strategy to improve perioperative diabetes care throughout the hospital care pathway.
  
  
  
  We conducted a controlled before-and-after study in six hospitals. The purpose of the strategy was to target four predominant barriers that obstruct optimal care delivery. We provided feedback on baseline indicator performance, developed a multidisciplinary protocol and patient information, and provided professional education. After a 6-month intervention, we determined the performance changes against three outcome indicators and nine process indicators using data on 811 patients with diabetes who underwent major surgery. The progress of the interventions was monitored closely.
  
  
  
  Two process indicators improved significantly in the intervention hospitals: the proportion of patients for whom glycaemic control had been evaluated preoperatively increased by 9% (P < 0.002) and the proportion of patients with blood glucose measurements within 1 h after surgery increased by 29% (P < 0.0001). Four other process indicators and all three outcome indicators improved more in the intervention hospitals than in the control hospitals, but the differences were not statistically significant. These included the proportion of patients with all glucose values at 6-10 mmol/l (+3%) and the proportion of patients with hyperglycaemia (-8%). The implementation of the multidisciplinary protocol was still ongoing after the 6-month intervention period.
  
  
  
  The multifaceted improvement strategy had a limited impact on the quality of perioperative diabetes care. This study demonstrates the complexity of improving perioperative diabetes care throughout the multiprofessional hospital care pathway.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hommel
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wollersheim
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Centre, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Tack
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Centre, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: van Gurp
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M E J L
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Hulscher
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D002983:Clinical Competence; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D019468:Disease Management; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006292:Health Priorities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010358:Patient Participation; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D019990:Perioperative Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D058996:Quality Improvement
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose