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Saturday, January 3, 2009

Diabetes Inpatient Care

Diabetes inpatient care has long been in my mind since Diabetes UK started looking for people who had inpatient care experiences. I started thinking of how to improve this important part in the care of diabetics and therefore researched this issue. These are what I found.

What can people expect in the hospital setting when it comes to diabetes inpatient care? This problem has long been established and trying to improve it is an on-going issue. This is a multi-faceted question that includes suffering, disempowerment, lack of skill and know-how of the staff in managing complications, medicines, and meal scheduling.

Here are the principles that have been accepted as to the standard of care in hospital setting. To make the plan workable and achieve the best result for each diabetic in the hospital setting, the standard of care should make certain that:


  • Every diabetic will undergo pre assessment planning.

  • Every diabetic has an assessment and management care plan during his hospital stay that can be updated as necessary.

  • Medication and meal schedules are administered properly.

  • Good diabetes management requires access to food and snacks as needed.

  • Procedures are in place for the management of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia and other complications.

  • Support is provided for the diabetics to maintain blood sugar control.

  • Information is provided for the diabetics regarding their hospital stay.

  • Multi disciplinary care is available.

  • Access to diabetes health care team is provided.

  • After discharge, a follow up plan is provided.



To improve diabetes in patient care, those who would like to manage their own condition should be given appropriate support. How can this be implemented? For one thing, every diabetic should be encouraged to do self management of their condition. In so doing, he should have access to his equipment to monitor his blood glucose level and should be provided with the proper education.

The aforementioned are all good but it is easy to fall into the trap of just paying lip service to them. To accomplish the goals, all medical and nursing staff should have the diabetes training. Also from time to time, evaluation of the goals should be undertaken for only then can we be sure that there is improvement in diabetes inpatient care.

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