Implementation of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in the Hospital: Emergent Considerations for Remote Glucose Monitoring During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is now a widely used device in ambulatory settings for checking glucose levels along with detecting hypoglycemia, uncontrolled hyperglycemia, and glycemic variability. Hence, Rodolfo J. Galindo and colleagues published a research paper in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology under title “Implementation of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in the Hospital: Emergent Considerations for Remote Glucose Monitoring During the COVID-19 Pandemic”. The summary of this article is given below:
Objective:
To elaborate on who, where, what, when, why, and how CGM can be acquired for inpatient use.
Method:
The recommendations are on the basis of clinical trials and recent research experience with CGM in the hospital setting.
Findings:
The investigators believe that CGM might be on edge of becoming a widely accepted strategy for continuous automated physiologic monitoring in the hospital setting. Additionally, this technology can be fit in during emergency needs like in a pandemic when there is increased demand for both nursing staff as well as PPE. FDA clear-
ance will be needed in order to move this technology from the research setting into mainstream hospital practice. For this, a large amount of data assessing the performance of CGM in widespread hospital use is required. While immediate use of CGM should not be delayed, there is a future need for electronic health records that can accept CGM glucose data directly and economic analyses to justify a wider implementation of this technology.
As remotely monitoring cardiac rhythm and vital signs continuously is possible today in the hospital wards, investigators emphasize on a need to continuously monitor glucose as well. This can ease the burden of glucose monitoring for patients and
providers.
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