Benchmarking

                                                     

2009 National Glucose Report features

Nearly 50 Million Results from 600 Hospitals

 

April 5, 2010, Charlottesville, VA - Medical Automation Systems, Inc. (MAS) announces the delivery of the RALS-Annual Report to 576 participating hospitals throughout the U.S.  This report provides mean blood glucose results for a hospital compared to mean blood glucose results for all participating hospitals and provides answers to questions such as: How does your hospital mean glucose for 2009 compare to the National mean? Is Hypoglycemia still on the rise? Does a hospital utilizing an automated insulin management tool produce better means than sites using other protocols?

 

Hospital Statistics (mg/dL)	All Measurements
	2006	2007	2008	2009
Lowest-Mean Blood Glucose	142.2	145.6	140.6	140.7
Highest-Mean Blood Glucose	201.9	201.2	205.7	202.4
Mean Blood Glucose	163.2	163.5	162.0	165.3
Median-Mean Blood Glucose	166.9	166.4	167.5	169.4
Mean-Mean Blood Glucose	166.4	167.4	166.8	169.6
“Your” Statistics (mg/dL)	All Measurements
	2006	2007	2008	2009
Mean Blood Glucose	156.6	159.1	155.3	154.6
Quartile Ranking*	1	1	1	1
Total Blood Glucose Results	184,426	194,480	189,182	204,233

In 2009, there were over 49.9 million blood glucose test results. Of this total, approximately 12.2 million came from the ICU and approximately 37.7 million from the non-ICU nursing units.

 

The table on the right is an example of a participating hospital’s mean blood glucose results within the category of All Measurements (ICU Measurements and Non-ICU Measurements also are available). It also indicates the hospital’s quartile ranking*, representing the hospital’s performance relative to the other participating hospitals.

 

Top performers in managing glucose in their hospitals included: Pinnacle Health System, Harrisburg, PA, Crozer Health Systems, Philadelphia, PA, and Clarian Arnett Hospital, Lafayette, IN.

 

“We have a very aggressive and diligent staff who clearly take pride in managing BG and a very high vigilance for hypoglycemia and good protocols.  We have monthly meetings by the performance improvement committee to overcome problems and a dedicated endocrinologist supported by administration.”

Dr. Renu Joshi, Endocrinologist, Pinnacle Health System

 

“Crozer Chester Medical Center is proud to be in the top quartile of performers year after year across both ICU and non ICU settings.  Our success is due to our strong physician, pharmacy and nursing involvement and leadership.  We utilize evidence based protocols to achieve and manage glycemic control.  Last year when the NICE SUGAR trial was reported, our Expert Panel convened to adjust our target ranges and protocol accordingly.  It is a dynamic process requiring energy and commitment that we believe benefits our patients.”

Eileen Young, Director of Quality at Crozer Health Systems

 

“We believed that we were a top performer initially because we had just opened the acute care facility and had a honeymoon effect perhaps. We use an FDA approved product for insulin infusion called Glucostabilizerä.  We have a closed ICU with well trained intensivists who make twice daily rounds in the tradition of Leapfrog—one of these is an interdisciplinary rounding effort.  We have a robust hospitalist service with 24 hour coverage and endocrinology providers making daily rounds.  We are staffing the hospital with mostly members of a single large group of doctors who have been performing as a group for many years.”

Dr. Shannon Oates, Endocrinologist at Clarian Arnett Hospital

 

MAS first launched the RALS-Report in 2006 with 130 participating hospitals and over 11.3 million blood glucose test results. For more information and result details, send an email to ralsinfo@rals.com or by phone at 1-888-971-7953 x3060.

 

To sign up click here and complete our online form.

 

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* A hospital’s quartile is a number from 1 to 4. Quartiles provide a rough approximation of your hospital's performance relative to all participating hospitals. If hospital mean BGs are arranged in order from lowest to highest, then the one-quarter of hospitals with the lowest mean BGs are assigned a quartile of 1, representing superior relative performance. Successive quarters are assigned quartiles of 2, 3, and 4.