Objective: Insulin is a commonly used, high-risk medication in the inpatient setting. Incorrect insulin administration can lead to preventable hypoglycemic events, which are a significant morbidity in inpatient diabetes care. The goal of this intervention was to decrease preventable insulin-related hypoglycemic events in an inpatient setting in a tertiary care pediatric hospital.
Methods: Methods included the institution of several interventions such as nursing and physician education, electronic medical record order sets, electronic communication note templates, and the development of new care guidelines.
Results: After the institution of multiple interventions, the rate of preventable hypoglycemic events decreased from 1.4 preventable events per 100 insulin days to 0.4 preventable events per 100 insulin days.
Conclusions: Through the use of a multi-interventional approach with oversight of a multidisciplinary insulin safety committee, a sustained decreased rate of severe preventable hypoglycemic events in hospitalized pediatric patients receiving insulin was achieved.
Copyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.