IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ELECTRONIC DASHBOARD WITH A REMOTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO IMPROVE GLYCEMIC MANAGEMENT AMONG HOSPITALIZED ADULTS

Decreased rates of hospital-acquired infection after introduction of an active surveillance, virtual glucose management system

Addition of an active surveillance virtual glucose management (VGM) system to usual consultation-based diabetes inpatient care at our hospital was associated with a decrease in hospital-acquired infection from 8.7% (17/196) to 3.5% (6/172) with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.17 (95%CI: 0.05-0.61), and a reduction in hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic patient-stay days.

Accuracy of Point-of-Care Blood Glucometers in Neonates and Critically Ill Adults

PURPOSE

Inpatient glycemic management has become a common issue because of the increasing number of hospitalized patients with hyperglycemia. Point-of-care devices can enable timely inpatient glucose monitoring, which may lead to better outcomes. The accuracy of point-of-care testing in various clinical scenarios has been questioned, particularly in neonates and critically ill patients. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the CONTOUR PLUS and CONTOUR PLUS ONE glucometers (new wireless systems that link to a smart mobile device) when used as point-of-care devices for blood glucose monitoring in neonates and critically ill adults in inpatient settings.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted at a medical center in central Taiwan and enrolled patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, sick child room, or respiratory intensive care unit between November 2020 and April 2021. Neonates with suspected infection or abnormal blood coagulation and adults who had abnormal blood coagulation, were pregnant, had received organ transplants, or had undergone massive blood transfusions were excluded. The accuracy of the glucometers was determined based on the following criteria of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard: 15197:2013.

FINDINGS

Overall, 114 neonates (mean age, 4.2 days [range, 0-28 days]; 65 boys [57.0%]) and 106 hospitalized critically ill adults (mean age, 68.2 years [range, 27-94 years]; 72 men [67.9%]) were enrolled in this study. The glucose values obtained with each glucometer had good precision, and all findings met the reference criteria of the within-lot results. All measurements of the neonates' venous blood by each glucometer met the accuracy criteria specified by ISO standard 15197:2013. Furthermore, 98.1% and 97.2% of the arterial blood glucose measurements for critically ill adults obtained with CONTOUR PLUS and CONTOUR PLUS ONE met the accuracy criteria, respectively.

IMPLICATIONS

Both glucose management systems met the accuracy criteria for venous blood from neonates and arterial blood from critically ill adults. Thus, the use of these 2 point-of-care devices in inpatient settings, including for neonates and critically ill adults, can be recommended to minimize limitations associated with the clinical application of point-of-care testing in glucose management. The wireless connection may play a role in the subsequent development of institution-wide virtual glycemic management under the supervision of a team of endocrinologists.

How Can Point-of-Care Technologies Support In-Hospital Diabetes Care?

People with diabetes admitted to hospital are at risk of diabetes related complications including hypoglycaemia and diabetic ketoacidosis. Point-of-care (POC) tests undertaken at the patient bedside, for glucose, ketones, and other analytes, are a key component of monitoring people with diabetes, to ensure safety. POC tests implemented with a quality framework are critical to ensuring accuracy and veracity of results and preventing erroneous clinical decision making. POC results can be used for self-management of glucose levels in those well-enough and/or by healthcare professionals to identify unsafe levels. Connectivity of POC results to electronic health records further offers the possibility of utilising these results proactively to identify patients 'at risk' in real-time and for audit purposes. In this article, the key considerations when implementing POC tests for diabetes in-patient management are reviewed and potential to drive improvements using networked glucose and ketone measurements are discussed. In summary, new advances in POC technology should allow people with diabetes and the teams looking after them whilst in hospital to integrate to provide safe and effective care.

Using Technology to Improve Diabetes Care in Hospital: The Challenge and the Opportunity

The past 10 years have seen a revolution in technology improving the lives of people with diabetes. This has implications for diabetes care in hospitalized inpatients. These technological developments have the potential to significantly improve the care of people with diabetes in hospital. Combining point of care glucose monitoring, electronic prescribing, electronic observations with electronic referral, and electronic health records allow teams to daily oversee the whole hospital population. To make the most of these tools as well as developing the use of pumps and glucose sensors in hospital, the diabetes team needs to work in new ways. To date, very little work has described how these should be combined. We describe how this technology can be combined to improve diabetes care in hospital.

Gaps in our knowledge of managing inpatient dysglycaemia and diabetes in non-critically ill adults: A call for further research

AIMS

To describe the gaps in knowledge for the care of people in the hospital who have dysglycaemia or diabetes.

METHODS

A review of the current literature and the authors' knowledge of the subject.

RESULTS

Recent data has suggested that the prevalence of hospitalised people with diabetes is approximately three times the prevalence in the general population and is growing annually. A wealth of observational data over the last 4 decades has shown that people with hyperglycaemia, severe hypoglycaemia or diabetes, all experience more harm whilst in the hospital than those who do not have the condition. This often equates to a longer length of stay and thus higher costs. To date, the proportion of federal funding aimed at addressing the harms that people with dysglycaemia experience in hospitals has been very small compared to outpatient studies. National organisations, such as the Joint British Diabetes Societies for Inpatient Care, the American Diabetes Association and the Endocrine Society have produced guidelines or consensus statements on the management of various aspects of inpatient care. However, whilst a lot of these have been based on evidence, much remains based on expert opinion and thus low-quality evidence.

CONCLUSIONS

This review highlights that inpatient diabetes is an underfunded and under-researched area.

Toward better diabetes care: Exploration and implementation

Approximately 40 years ago, I was fortunate enough to step into the field of diabetes. When I had my fellowship training in the USA, I learned how to ask a good scientific question and conduct clinical research. With collaboration with my mentors, Prof. Gerald R Reaven and Prof. Ida Chen, we participated in many clinical trials. We established the Taiwan Diabetes Registry (TDR) to track long-term changes in diabetes profiles. The ultimate purpose of medical research is to provide benefits to patients. Using electronic medical records and point-of-care glucometers, we reduced inpatients' hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia greatly, which was also reflected by the reduction in hospital stays and readmission rates. With the advent of new technology and medications, we have to ponder where we are on the journey toward better diabetes care. We rigorously advocate diabetes care, hold many symposia and publish updated guidelines. We successfully hosted the congress of the 11th International Diabetes Federation Western Pacific Region & 8th Asian Association for the Study of Diabetes Scientific Meeting 2016 at Taipei, Taiwan. As the era of precision medicine is coming, Taiwan could be considered as one of the best places to run precision medicine. The Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative has enrolled more than half a million residents, and is currently conducting genotyping and data analysis. In conclusion. I witnessed the early days of simple and few choices for diabetes management to the current various modalities in diabetes care. As these new technologies have become available, patients will always remain at the center of the care model with warmth and humility.

Sustaining Improvements of Surgical Site Infections by Six Sigma DMAIC Approach

SSIs (surgical site infections) are associated with increased rates of morbidity and mortality. The traditional quality improvement strategies focusing on individual performance did not achieve sustainable improvement. This study aimed to implement the Six Sigma DMAIC method to reduce SSIs and to sustain improvements in surgical quality. The surgical procedures, clinical data, and surgical site infections were collected among 42,233 hospitalized surgical patients from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. Following strengthening leadership and empowering a multidisciplinary SSI prevention team, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) was used as the performance improvement model. An evidence-based prevention bundle for reduction of SSI was adopted as performance measures. Environmental monitoring and antimicrobial stewardship programs were strengthened to prevent the transmission of multi-drug resistant microorganisms. Process change was integrated into a clinical pathway information system. Improvement cycles by corrective actions for the risk events of SSIs were implemented to ensure sustaining improvements. We have reached the targets of the prevention bundle elements in the post-intervention period in 2020. The carbapenem resistance rates of Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa were lower than 10%. A significant 22.2% decline in SSI rates has been achieved, from 0.9% for the pre-intervention period in 2019 to 0.7% for the post-intervention period in 2020 (p = 0.004). Application of the Six Sigma DMAIC approach could significantly reduce the SSI rates. It also could help hospital administrators and quality management personnel to create a culture of patient safety.

Electronic Health Record-Based Decision-Making Support in Inpatient Diabetes Management

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

This review discusses ways in which the electronic health record (EHR) can offer clinical decision support (CDS) tools for management of inpatient diabetes and hyperglycemia.

RECENT FINDINGS

The use of electronic order sets can help providers order comprehensive basal bolus insulin regimens that are consistent with current guidelines. Order sets have been shown to reduce insulin errors and hypoglycemia rates. They can also help set glycemic targets, give hemoglobin A1C reminders, guide weight-based dosing, and match insulin regimen to nutritional profile. Glycemic management dashboards allow multiple variables affecting blood glucose to be shown in a single view, which allows for efficient evaluation of glucose trends and adjustment of insulin regimen. With the use glycemic management dashboards, active surveillance and remote management also become feasible. Hypoglycemia prevention and management are another part of inpatient diabetes management that is enhanced by EHR CDS tools. Furthermore, diagnosis and management of diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperglycemia hyperosmolar state are improved with the aid of EHR CDS tools. The use of EHR CDS tools helps improve the care of patients with diabetes and hyperglycemia in the inpatient hospital setting.

Update on the management of diabetes in long-term care facilities

The number of patients with diabetes is increasing among older adults in the USA, and it is expected to reach 26.7 million by 2050. In parallel, the percentage of older patients with diabetes in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) will also rise. Currently, the majority of LTCF residents are older adults and one-third of them have diabetes. Management of diabetes in LTCF is challenging due to multiple comorbidities and altered nutrition. Few randomized clinical trials have been conducted to determine optimal treatment for diabetes management in older adults in LTCF. The geriatric populations are at risk of hypoglycemia since the majority are treated with insulin and have different levels of functionality and nutritional needs. Effective approaches to avoid hypoglycemia should be implemented in these settings to improve outcome and reduce the economic burden. Newer medication classes might carry less risk of developing hypoglycemia along with the appropriate use of technology, such as the use of continuous glucose monitoring. Practical clinical guidelines for diabetes management including recommendations for prevention and treatment of hypoglycemia are needed to appropriately implement resources in the transition of care plans in this vulnerable population.

Improving annual albuminuria testing for individuals with diabetes

Background

Annual albuminuria screening detects the early stages of nephropathy in individuals with diabetes. Because early detection of albuminuria allows for interventions that lower the risk of developing chronic kidney disease, guidelines recommend annual testing for all individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus and for those with type 1 diabetes for at least 5 years. However, at the Eskind Diabetes Clinic at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, testing occurred less frequently than desired.

Methods

A quality improvement team first analysed the clinic’s processes, identifying the lack of a systematic approach to testing as the likely cause for the low rate. The team then implemented two successive interventions in a pilot of patients seen by nurse practitioners in the clinic. In the first intervention, staff used a dashboard within the electronic health record while triaging each patient, pending an albuminuria order if testing had not been done within the past year. In the second intervention, clinic leadership sent daily reminders to the triage staff. A statistical process control chart tracked monthly testing rates.

Results

After 6 months, annual albuminuria testing increased from a baseline of 69% to 82%, with multiple special-cause signals in the control chart.

Conclusions

This project demonstrates that a series of simple interventions can significantly impact annual albuminuria testing. This project’s success likely hinged on using an existing workflow to systematically determine if a patient was due for testing and prompting the provider to sign a pended order for an albuminuria test. Other diabetes/endocrinology and primary care clinics can likely implement a similar process and so improve testing rates in other settings. When coupled with appropriate interventions to reduce the development of chronic kidney disease, such interventions would improve patient outcomes, in addition to better adhering to an established quality metric.

OUP accepted manuscript

Objectives

(1) Systematically review the literature on computerized audit and feedback (e-A&F) systems in healthcare. (2) Compare features of current systems against e-A&F best practices. (3) Generate hypotheses on how e-A&F systems may impact patient care and outcomes.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), and CINAHL (Ebsco) databases to December 31, 2020. Two reviewers independently performed selection, extraction, and quality appraisal (Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool). System features were compared with 18 best practices derived from Clinical Performance Feedback Intervention Theory. We then used realist concepts to generate hypotheses on mechanisms of e-A&F impact. Results are reported in accordance with the PRISMA statement.

Results

Our search yielded 4301 unique articles. We included 88 studies evaluating 65 e-A&F systems, spanning a diverse range of clinical areas, including medical, surgical, general practice, etc. Systems adopted a median of 8 best practices (interquartile range 6–10), with 32 systems providing near real-time feedback data and 20 systems incorporating action planning. High-confidence hypotheses suggested that favorable e-A&F systems prompted specific actions, particularly enabled by timely and role-specific feedback (including patient lists and individual performance data) and embedded action plans, in order to improve system usage, care quality, and patient outcomes.

Conclusions

e-A&F systems continue to be developed for many clinical applications. Yet, several systems still lack basic features recommended by best practice, such as timely feedback and action planning. Systems should focus on actionability, by providing real-time data for feedback that is specific to user roles, with embedded action plans.

Protocol Registration

PROSPERO CRD42016048695.

Digital interventions to improve safety and quality of inpatient diabetes management: A systematic review

IMPORTANCE

Diabetes is common amongst hospitalised patients and contributes to increased length of stay and poorer outcomes. Digital transformation, particularly the implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs), is rapidly occurring across the healthcare sector and provides an opportunity to improve the safety and quality of inpatient diabetes care. Alongside this revolution has been a considerable and ongoing evolution of digital interventions to optimise care of inpatients with diabetes including optimisation of EMRs, digital clinical decision support systems (CDSS) and solutions utilising data visibility to allow targeted patient review.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically appraise the recent literature to determine which digitally-enabled interventions including EMR, CDSS and data visibility solutions improve the safety and quality of non-critical care inpatient diabetes management.

METHODS

Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched for suitable articles. Selected articles underwent quality assessment and analysis with results grouped by intervention type.

RESULTS

1202 articles were identified with 42 meeting inclusion criteria. Four key interventions were identified; computerised physician order entry (n = 4), clinician decision support systems (n = 21), EMR driven active case finding (data visibility solutions) and targeted patient review (n = 10) and multicomponent system interventions (n = 7). Studies reported on glucometric outcomes, evidence-based medication ordering including medication errors, and patient and user outcomes. An improvement in glucometric measures particularly mean blood glucose and proportion of target range blood glucose levels and rates of evidence-based insulin prescribing were consistently demonstrated.

CONCLUSION

Digitally-enabled interventions utilised to improve quality and safety of inpatient diabetes care were heterogenous in design. The majority of studies across all intervention types reported positive effects for evidence-based prescribing and glucometric outcomes. There was less evidence for digital interventions reducing diabetes medication administration errors or impacting patient outcomes (length of stay).

Electronic dashboard-based remote glycemic management program reduces length of stay and readmission rate among hospitalized adults

AIMS/INTRODUCTION

Currently, the impact of hospital-wide glycemic control interventions on length of hospital stay (LOS) and readmission rates are largely unknown. We investigated the impact of a 4-year hospital-wide remote glycemic management program on LOS and 30-day readmission rates among hospitalized adults who received glucose monitoring.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this retrospective study, hospitalized patients who received glucose monitoring were classified into groups 1 (high glucose variability), 2 (hypoglycemia), 3 (hyperglycemia) and 4 (relatively stable). The monthly percentage changes, and average monthly percentage changes of hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia and treat to target were determined using joinpoint regression analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 106,528 hospitalized patients (mean age 60.9 ± 18.5 years, 57% men) were enrolled. We observed a significant reduction in the percentage of inpatients in poor glycemic control groups (groups 1, 2 and 3, all P < 0.001), and a reciprocal increase in the relatively stable group (group 4) from 2016 to 2019. We found a significant reduction in LOS by 11.4% (10.5-9.3 days, P = 0.002, after adjustment for age, sex, and admission department). The 30-day readmission rate decreased from 29.9% to 29.3%, mainly among those in group 4 in 2019 (P < 0.001 after adjustment of sex, age, admission department and LOS).

CONCLUSIONS

Improved glycemic control through a hospital-wide electronic remote glycemic management system reduced LOS and 30-day readmission rates. Findings observed in this study might be associated with the reduction in cost of avoidable hospitalizations.

Clinical decision support to improve management of diabetes and dysglycemia in the hospital: a path to optimizing practice and outcomes

INTRODUCTION

Innovative approaches are needed to design robust clinical decision support (CDS) to optimize hospital glycemic management. We piloted an electronic medical record (EMR), evidence-based algorithmic CDS tool in an academic center to alert clinicians in real time about gaps in care related to inpatient glucose control and insulin utilization, and to provide management recommendations.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

The tool was designed to identify clinical situations in need for action: (1) severe or recurrent hyperglycemia in patients with diabetes: blood glucose (BG) ≥13.88 mmol/L (250 mg/dL) at least once or BG ≥10.0 mmol/L (180 mg/dL) at least twice, respectively; (2) recurrent hyperglycemia in patients with stress hyperglycemia: BG ≥10.0 mmol/L (180 mg/dL) at least twice; (3) impending or established hypoglycemia: BG 3.9-4.4 mmol/L (70-80 mg/dL) or ≤3.9 mmol/L (70 mg/dL); and (4) inappropriate sliding scale insulin (SSI) monotherapy in recurrent hyperglycemia, or anytime in patients with type 1 diabetes. The EMR CDS was active (ON) for 6 months for all adult hospital patients and inactive (OFF) for 6 months. We prospectively identified and compared gaps in care between ON and OFF periods.

RESULTS

When active, the hospital CDS tool significantly reduced events of recurrent hyperglycemia in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (3342 vs 3701, OR=0.88, p=0.050) and in patients with stress hyperglycemia (288 vs 506, OR=0.60, p<0.001). Hypoglycemia or impending hypoglycemia (1548 vs 1349, OR=1.15, p=0.050) were unrelated to the CDS tool on subsequent analysis. Inappropriate use of SSI monotherapy in type 1 diabetes (10 vs 22, OR=0.36, p=0.073), inappropriate use of SSI monotherapy in type 2 diabetes (2519 vs 2748, OR=0.97, p=0.632), and in stress hyperglycemia subjects (1617 vs 1488, OR=1.30, p<0.001) were recognized.

CONCLUSION

EMR CDS was successful in reducing hyperglycemic events among hospitalized patients with dysglycemia and diabetes, and inappropriate insulin use in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Evaluation of a Clinical Platform to Promote Chronic Disease Management

Self-reported data suggest American adults with multiple chronic conditions account for 25.7% to 60% of the population. Despite emphasis on information technology to improve quality in health care, data addressing outcomes of clinically focused, provider-oriented dashboards are limited. To explore integrating performance platforms into clinical care, the authors designed a platform-based intervention to address 2 prevalent chronic conditions with significant long-term burden. This study used a performance platform to enhance clinicians' management of patients with diabetes and osteoporosis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize patients' surveys and quality metrics, and to analyze clinicians' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs in the pre and post time frames. The frequency of screening for osteoporosis in women improved post intervention (40% vs. 44%, P < 0.0001), whereas other quality metrics did not. Clinician respondents were primarily physicians (82%), white (73%), internal medicine specialists (58%), with an average of 18 years' experience, and nearly equally male and female. Their percent of correctly answered knowledge questions increased slightly in the postintervention phase for osteoporosis and hypoglycemia (0.53 and 1.74, respectively); however, results were not statistically significant (P > 0.4). Post intervention, clinicians reported that their attitudes and beliefs regarding disease management had changed in the past 6 months in a positive direction. Although few outcomes studied changed over time, results suggest that performance platforms may have a role to play in managing chronic conditions. However, their efficacy must continue to be evaluated in order to improve understanding of optimal approaches to integrating technology into patient care.

Inpatient Hypoglycemia: The Challenge Remains

Hypoglycemia in inpatients with diabetes remains the most common complication of diabetes therapies. Hypoglycemia is independently associated with increased morbidity and mortality, increased length of stay, increased readmission rate, and increased cost. This review describes the importance of reporting and addressing inpatient hypoglycemia; it further summarizes eight strategies that aid clinicians in the prevention of inpatient hypoglycemia: auditing the electronic medical record, formulary restrictions and dose-limiting strategies, hyperkalemia order sets, electronic glucose management systems, prediction tools, diabetes self-management, remote surveillance, and noninsulin medications.