Improving Glycemic Control and Insulin Ordering Efficiency for Hospitalized Patients With Diabetes Through Carbohydrate Counting

Assessing Carbohydrate Counting Accuracy: Current Limitations and Future Directions

Diabetes mellitus is a prevalent chronic autoimmune disease with a high impact on global health, affecting millions of adults and resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Achieving optimal blood glucose levels is crucial for diabetes management to prevent acute and long-term complications. Carbohydrate counting (CC) is widely used by patients with type 1 diabetes to adjust prandial insulin bolus doses based on estimated carbohydrate content, contributing to better glycemic control and improved quality of life. However, accurately estimating the carbohydrate content of meals remains challenging for patients, leading to errors in bolus insulin dosing. This review explores the current limitations and challenges in CC accuracy and emphasizes the importance of personalized educational programs to enhance patients' abilities in carbohydrate estimation. Existing tools for assessing patient learning outcomes in CC are discussed, highlighting the need for individualized approaches tailored to each patient's needs. A comprehensive review of the relevant literature was conducted to identify educational programs and assessment tools dedicated to training diabetes patients on carbohydrate counting. The research aims to provide insights into the benefits and limitations of existing tools and identifies future research directions to advance personalized CC training approaches. By adopting a personalized approach to CC education and assessment, healthcare professionals can empower patients to achieve better glycemic control and improve diabetes management. Moreover, this review identifies potential avenues for future research, paving the way for advancements in personalized CC training and assessment approaches and further enhancing diabetes management strategies.

Evaluating the Impact of Inadequate Meal Consumption on Insulin-Related Hypoglycemia in Hospitalized Patients

OBJECTIVE

Meal intake is sometimes reduced in hospitalized patients. Meal-time insulin administration can cause hypoglycemia when a meal is not consumed. Inpatient providers may avoid ordering meal-time insulin due to hypoglycemia concerns, which can result in hyperglycemia. The frequency of reduced meal intake in hospitalized patients remains inadequately determined. This quality improvement project evaluates the percentage of meals consumed by hospitalized patients with insulin orders and the resulting risk of postmeal hypoglycemia (blood glucose [BG] <70 mg/dL, <3.9 mmol/L).

METHODS

This was a retrospective quality improvement project evaluating patients with any subcutaneous insulin orders hospitalized at a regional academic medical center between 2015 and 2017. BG, laboratory values, point of care, insulin administration, diet orders, and percentage of meal consumed documented by registered nurses were abstracted from electronic health records.

RESULTS

Meal consumption ≥50% was observed for 85% of meals with insulin orders, and bedside registered nurses were accurate at estimating this percentage. Age ≥65 years was a risk factor for reduced meal consumption (21% of meals 0%-49% consumed, P < .05 vs age < 65 years [12%]). Receiving meal-time insulin and then consuming only 0% to 49% of a meal (defined here as a mismatch) was not rare (6% of meals) and increased postmeal hypoglycemia risk. However, the attributable risk of postmeal hypoglycemia due to this mismatch was low (4 events per 1000) in patients with premeal BG between 70 and 180 mg/dL.

CONCLUSION

This project demonstrates that hospitalized patients treated with subcutaneous insulin have a low attributable risk of postmeal hypoglycemia related to inadequate meal intake.

Evaluation of current trends and recent development in insulin therapy for management of diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem in developing countries. There are various insulin therapies to manage diabetes mellitus. This systematic review evaluates various insulin therapies for management of diabetes mellitus worldwide. This review also focuses on recent developments being explored for better management of diabetes mellitus.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD

We reviewed a number of published articles from 2002 to 2016 to find out the appropriate management of diabetes mellitus. The paramount parameters of the selected studies include the insulin type & its dose, type of diabetes, duration and comparison of different insulin protocols. In addition, various newly developed approaches for insulin delivery with potential output have also been evaluated.

RESULTS

A great variability was observed in managing diabetes mellitus through insulin therapy and the important controlling factors found for this therapy include; dose titration, duration of insulin use, type of insulin used and combination therapy of different insulin.

CONCLUSION

A range of research articles on current trends and recent advances in insulin has been summarized, which led us to the conclusion that multiple daily insulin injections or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (insulin pump) is the best method to manage diabetes mellitus. In future perspectives, development of the oral and inhalant insulin would be a tremendous breakthrough in Insulin therapy.

Evaluation of the timing and coordination of prandial insulin administration in the hospital

AIMS

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between measures of coordinated insulin delivery and capillary blood glucose (CBG) levels among hospitalized patients and to assess nurse perceptions of insulin administration.

METHODS

Hospitalized patients (n=451) receiving rapid acting insulin analog (RAIA) using carbohydrate counting were retrospectively analyzed. Nurses (n=35) were asked to complete an 18-item anonymous survey assessing perception of RAIA dosing.

RESULTS

The median time from breakfast CBG to RAIA dose was 93 (IQR 57-138) min. There was no association between timeliness measures and mean CBG at lunch or dinner. Hypoglycemia was rare (N=2). More than half (54%) of nurses were confident all of the time in determining the correct dose of RAIA, though none were confident in administering it on time. The majority of nurses perceived an electronic dosing calculator and a patient reminder to notify the nurse at the end of the meal favorably.

CONCLUSIONS

The data demonstrate suboptimal coordination of CBG monitoring and insulin doses using a flexible meal insulin dosing strategy, though there was minimal impact on glycemic control. Nurses reported high confidence in the ability to calculate the correct insulin dose but not in the ability to administer it on time.

Mealtime Insulin Dosing by Carbohydrate Counting in Hospitalized Cardiology Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Carbohydrate counting may improve glycemic control in hospitalized cardiology patients by providing individualized insulin doses tailored to meal consumption. The purpose of this study was to compare glycemic outcomes with mealtime insulin dosed by carbohydrate counting versus fixed dosing in the inpatient setting.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This single-center retrospective cohort study included 225 adult medical cardiology patients who received mealtime, basal, and correction-scale insulin concurrently for at least 72 h and up to 7 days in the interval March 1, 2010-November 7, 2013. Mealtime insulin was dosed by carbohydrate counting or with fixed doses determined prior to meal intake. An inpatient diabetes consult service was responsible for insulin management. Exclusion criteria included receipt of an insulin infusion. The primary end point compared mean daily postprandial glucose values, whereas secondary end points included comparison of preprandial glucose values and mean daily rates of hypoglycemia.

RESULTS

Mean postprandial glucose level on Day 7 was 204 and 183 mg/dL in the carbohydrate counting and fixed mealtime dose groups, respectively (unadjusted P=0.04, adjusted P=0.12). There were no statistical differences between groups on Days 2-6. Greater rates of preprandial hypoglycemia were observed in the carbohydrate counting cohort on Day 5 (8.6% vs. 1.5%, P=0.02), Day 6 (1.7% vs. 0%, P=0.01), and Day 7 (7.1% vs. 0%, P=0.008). No differences in postprandial hypoglycemia were seen.

CONCLUSIONS

Mealtime insulin dosing by carbohydrate counting was associated with similar glycemic outcomes as fixed mealtime insulin dosing, except for a greater incidence of preprandial hypoglycemia. Additional comparative studies that include hospital outcomes are needed.