Background: Tight glucose control by intensive insulin therapy has become a key part of critical care and is an important field of study in acute coronary care. A balance has to be found between frequency of measurements and the risk of hypoglycemia. Current nurse-driven protocols are paper-based and, therefore, rely on simple rules. For safety and efficiency a computer decision support system that employs complex logic may be superior to paper protocols.

Objective: Intensive insulin therapy is associated with the risk of hypoglycemia and increased costs of material and personnel. We therefore evaluated the safety and efficiency of a computer-assisted glucose control protocol in a large population of critically ill patients. Design and setting: Observational cohort study in three intensive care units (32 beds) in a 1,300-bed university teaching hospital. Patients: All 2,800 patients admitted to the surgical, neurosurgical, and cardiothoracic units; the study period started at each ICU after implementation of Glucose Regulation for Intensive Care Patients (GRIP), a freely available computer-assisted glucose control protocol. Measurements and results:We analysed compliance in relation to recommended insulin pump rates and glucose measurement frequency. Patients were on GRIP-ordered pump rates 97% of time. Median measurement time was 5 min late (IQR 20 min early to 34 min late). Hypoglycemia was uncommon (7% of patients for mild hypoglycemia, < 3.5 mmol/l; 0.86% for severe hypoglycemia, < 2.2 mmol/l). Our predefined target range (4.0-7.5 mmol/l) was reached after a median of 5.6 h (IQR 0.2-11.8) and maintained for 89% (70-100%) of the remaining stay at the ICU. The number of measurements needed was 5.9 (4.8-7.3) per patient per day. In-hospital mortality was 10.1%. Conclusions: Our computer-assisted glucose control protocol provides safe and efficient glucose regulation in routine intensive care practice. A low rate of hypoglycemic episodes was achieved with a considerably lower number of glucose measurements than used in most other schemes.

The relation of hyperglycemia and mortality is more pronounced in trauma patients than in SICU patients admitted for other reasons. The different behavior of hyperglycemia in these patients underscores the need for evaluation of intensive insulin therapy in these patients.