GRIP, new software helps in assisting the blood sugar level of seriously ill patients. This has paved the way to increase the survival rates of critically ill patients.
A study, published in the open access journal BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, states that GRIP, computer software that assists in the monitoring of glucose levels in critically ill patients, saves nurses time and effort and is more efficient than the paper-based method which is currently used in many intensive care units (ICUs).Monitoring blood glucose level is necessary to avoid stress hyperglycemia - an insulin resistance condition that causes glucose levels to go up and has been shown to decrease patient survival.
Mathijs Vogelzang and colleagues from University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands implemented GRIP in a 12-bed ICU, for four months. GRIP monitors glucose levels and recommends the appropriate insulin pump rate. It also specifies the time at which the next blood sample should be taken, and indicates situations in which a physician needs to be notified.
In many ICUs, nurses currently monitor glucose levels manually ten to twelve times a day and record their measurements on paper. A total of 179 patients were monitored using GRIP and 22 nurses filled in a questionnaire about the program.
The results show that 61 percent of the patients had the right glucose levels more than 75 percent of the time that they were monitored by GRIP. Only one patient suffered from very low glucose levels, and that was due to human error.
Nurses found GRIP easy to use and all agreed that it is an improvement over the paper-based method. They mentioned that GRIP is very advantageous they only have to control patients six times a day, monitor more patients and don’t have to call a physician as often as with the current method. (ANI)
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