Endocrine Abstracts

Aims and objectives: Variable rate insulin infusion (VRII) is commonly used to achieve normoglycaemia in hospitalised patients. Joint British Diabetes Society (JBDS) produced guidelines on VRIII in 2014 to minimise complications related to inpatient VRII use. Local guidance along with a new VRII chart was introduced in 2017 at the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust and staff training provided. We performed an audit to review compliance to national and local VRII guidance.

Methods: We conducted a prospective audit on patients receiving VRII at medical and surgical wards for a period of one month. Audit standards included correct indication of VRII, correct duration of VRII, background insulin prescribing, regular electrolyte monitoring and appropriate transition off VRII.

Results: 25 patients were identified. The audit demonstrated good compliance with indication of VRII (100%), duration of VRII (100%) and background insulin prescription (100%). Only 60% of patients had daily electrolytes monitoring and 76% were appropriately taken off VRII.

Conclusion: Our trust did well in many areas in comparison with national performance shown by National Diabetes Inpatient Audit (NaDIA 2017). We do, however, need to improve our compliance in appropriate transfer off VRII and daily electrolytes monitoring. We plan to hold a series of staff training events for further education and re-audit in 12 months.