Endocrine Abstracts

Hypoglycemia during hospital admission remains a common complication of diabetes. Hypoglycemia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, increased length of stay, increased admission rate and increased cost to the NHS. Prompt treatment of inpatient hypoglycemia is imperative to avoid such complications. The Hypoglycemia box is an important tool to manage hypoglycemia on the wards. It is crucial for all clinical members to be aware of the hypoglycemia box; its contents, location aswell as access to the hypoglycemia guidelines. We have organised a quality improvement project at our trust, Doncaster and Bassettlaw Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, to assess and ultimately improve timely management of what could be a life threatening event. We did 2 cycles of this QIP. In cycle one, we found 60-70% of the staff were aware of the hypoglycemia box, its contents and the hypoglycemia guidelines. After cycle one, we conducted practical education classes following which we noted an improvement to above 95%. We are hopeful that following this quality improvement project, we can improve the management of inpatient hypoglycemia which will improve patient outcomes.