Practice of Hyperglycaemia Control in Intensive Care Units of the Military Hospital, Sudan – Needs of a Protocol

Abstract

AbstractHyperglycaemia is a major risk factor in critically ill patients as it leads to adverse outcomes and mortality in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. The target blood glucose remained controversial; this study aimed to contribute in assessing the practice of hyperglycaemia control in intensive care units of Khartoum Military Hospital. Furthermore, it proposed a protocol for hyperglycaemia control based on findings. A hospital-based cross-sectional study assessed the awareness and practice towards hyperglycaemia management in a sample of 83 healthcare staff selected through stratified random sampling technique. In addition, 55 patients were enrolled, through quota sampling, after excluding those with diabetic ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar-hyperglycaemic state and patients < 18 years. A self-administrated questionnaire enabled to collect data from healthcare staff, patients data were extracted from medical records. SPSS 23 was used to analyse the collected data. Chi-square and ANOVA tests assessed the association among variables. All statistical tests were considered statistically significant when p < 0.05. The training on hyperglycaemia control differed statistically (p = 0.017) among healthcare staff. The target glycaemic level (140-180 mg/dl) was knew by 11.1% of the study participants. Neither the knowledge nor the practice of hyperglycaemia control methods differed among staff (p> 0.05). The use of sliding scale was 79.3% across the ICUs with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.002). 31.5% of patients had received glycaemic control based on different methods and 11.8% were in the targeted blood glucose level. Sliding scale was the prevalent method used by doctors (71.4%) and nurses (81.6%). A patient benefited from insulin infusion method, which achieved the NICE-SUGAR target. The poor knowledge and lack of awareness towards hyperglycaemia monitoring led to inappropriate implementation of glycaemia control methods across the Military Hospital ICUs. Sustained training programs on hyperglycaemia control to ICU staff and the availability of a protocol on glycaemia control are highly required.