A Pilot Study of GlucoProTM Application for Glycemic Control Feasibility in Intensive Care Units
Keywords:
critical care, glycemic control, hyperglycemia, insulin therapy, patient care managementAbstract
Tight glycemic control has been proven difficult due to frequent monitoring and high nursing effort. Given the adverse effect of poor glycemic control, including organ failure, sepsis and mortality, it is necessary to adopt tight glycemic control in Intensive Care Units (ICU). Incorporating the latest technology may improve the precision of glycemic control and, at the same time, reduce the nursing effort. In this study, a decision support system for glycemic control, GlucoProTM, has been developed. GlucoProTM provides recommendations for insulin dose and timing based on the glucose control protocol of the particular ICU. The aim is to evaluate the usability of GlucoProTM for controlling glycemic levels in the clinical setting. The pilot study indicates that most nurses agree to use an automated system to replace the sliding scale method for glycemic management. Most nurses expressed positive feedback on using GlucoProTM, although some interventions were introduced during the pilot study. These interventions were due to nurse intuition and changing shift activity. The evaluation of the GlucoProTM application indicated that most nurses wanted to use GlucoProTM regularly, and they also responded that the mobile application is easy to use. However, the nurses agree that more extensive training is needed. Critical criteria such as effective, low risk, comprehensive, and providing an alert system in an emergency are among the requirement of a decision support system for controlling the glycemic level. Improvement of the GlucoProTM system will ensure the benefits of applying it to clinical settings.References
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