Continuous glucose monitors and virtual care in high-risk, racial and ethnic minority populations: Toward promoting health equity.

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) have become an important tool to aid self-management of blood glucose for many patients with diabetes in the U.S., and the benefits of CGM use are well-documented. However, disparities in CGM use exist, with lower use in certain marginalized racial and ethnic groups. CGM may be an important and underutilized tool to help reduce inequities. Evidence supporting the use of CGMs as a part of virtual care is discussed, with an emphasis on designing virtual diabetes care programs to promote health equity. Recommendations for clinical practice and research are presented. In clinical practice, CGM should be an option for all people with diabetes who qualify based on clinical practice guidelines, regardless of race, ethnicity, or other individual characteristics. Future research should characterize the use of, benefit from, and preferences for CGM among individuals from racial and ethnic groups to guide interventions at the health system, clinic, provider, and patient levels to promote equitable, evidence-based, and guideline-directed CGM use in marginalized racial and ethnic groups with diabetes.

Implementation of a Weight-Based Protocol for the Management of Steroid-Induced Hyperglycemia.

BACKGROUND: Hyperglycemia is a recognized complication of supraphysiological steroid dosing. There are no consensus guidelines on optimal treatment of steroid-induced hyperglycemia. We assessed the safety of a weight-based insulin protocol for persons treated with supraphysiological doses of steroids to examine the efficacy of using this protocol in patients with diabetes treated with prednisone or methylprednisolone. AREAS OF UNCERTAINTY: There is uncertainty about the optimal dosing of insulin to manage steroid-induced hyperglycemia; thus, a weight-based protocol was created with the goal of reaching euglycemia faster than current practice in persons with diabetes. Variables such as steroid dosing, baseline glycemic control, and duration of steroid use further complicated the ability to manage these patients. INNOVATIONS: The interdisciplinary team of diabetes providers and pharmacists worked together to devise a protocol to manage steroid-induced hyperglycemia with the goal of reducing hyperglycemia while avoiding hypoglycemia, as well as to allow for less reliance on endocrine consultation. The protocol used weight, insulin naivety, renal function, blood glucose measurements, and steroid dosing to determine the insulin dose. There was some evidence to suggest the proportion of blood glucose levels more than 200 mg/dL was lower after protocol initiation compared with before protocol initiation (P = 0.053). Several factors decreased the rate of successful outcomes, including minimal primary team participation, accurate completion of calculations based on the protocol, and initiation of the protocol after several days of hyperglycemia.

Transition of Care for Patients with Diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a common chronic condition among adults that can complicate the transition from the hospital to the community. Hospital readmission is an important contributor to total medical expenditures and is an emerging indicator of quality of care. Failure to acknowledge diabetes transition of care is associated with increased emergency department visits and 30-day readmissions. METHODS: Literature review of transition of care models, sample tools and processes are presented. Updated guidelines and recommendations aiming to identify and address risk factors for readmission of patients with diabetes are provided. RESULTS: Increased attention has been given to different aspects of diabetes care in regards to discharge planning. This includes early initiation of a discharge plan identifying readmission risk factors at time of admission. In addition, involvement of patients, families, care givers, health care providers and institutions to establish transitional care. Utilization of hospital resources includes medication reconciliation, diabetes education, care coordination, discharge planning, follow up appointments and post discharge care. CONCLUSION: Addressing transition of care is not a choice but an important quality of care marker. The transition of care determines where patients with diabetes will follow up and how payers will remunerate hospitals for management of diabetes during hospitalization, discharge planning process and readmission rates. Different transition of care models have been identified, utilized and evaluated. However, more research needs to be done to establish standardized transitional care guidelines specific to this population.