Historically at UCSF, most admitted patients who were eating were placed on standard insulin orders that required point-of-care glucose checks 5x/day at mealtimes, bedtime, and 2 am. Less, than 0.3% of patients per year experienced nocturnal hypoglycemia and these 2 am glucose checks were potentially causing more harm than good in the general population (specifically the sleep disruption potentially increasing the risk for delirium and affecting overnight sleep quality). This poster describes a Best Practice Alert that pulled specific risk criteria for overnight hypoglycemia and how it affected the need for overnight glucose checks and patient safety.
