Diabetes To Go: An Inpatient Diabetes Survival Skills Education Program

This study was a prospective, nonrandomized pilot study conducted among adults with uncontrolled diabetes admitted to the Medicine Service of an urban tertiary teaching hospital were consented to participate in a pilot study which provided diabetes survival skills education. Based on knowledge deficits identified on a diabetes knowledge pre-test the patient was directed to view video content corresponding to those deficiencies and content on sick days and diabetes complications. Evaluation measures were diabetes knowledge, medication adherence, and hospital admissions plus emergency department visits at and/or 3months before baseline and at 2 weeks and 3 months post-discharge. There was improvement in diabetes knowledge and medication adherence, which was sustained to 3 months. A trend was observed toward reduction in emergency department and/or hospital admissions from 3 months pre-intervention to 3 months post-discharge for uncontrolled diabetes. This knowledge-based program successfully provided survival skills education to hospital patients with uncontrolled diabetes and demonstrated preliminary evidence of a positive impact on medication adherence and a trend toward reduction in hospital and emergency department admissions.

Inclusion criteria

• English speaking with a diabetes mellitus diagnosis (ICD 9 codes 250.xx)
• an admitting blood glucose level of > 200 mg/dL or ≤ 40 mg/dL, and
• an anticipated hospital stay of ≥ 2 days, as estimated by the medical staff, to allow sufficient time for delivery of program content

Exclusion criteria

• pregnancy
• admission to an intensive care unit, and
• any medical condition or cognitive dysfunction that, in the opinion of the investigator, would preclude active participation