A COMPARISON OF 2 INTRAVENOUS INSULIN REGIMENS AMONG SURGICAL PATIENTS WITH INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS

We compared two intravenous insulin regimens among 58 consecutive surg ical patients who required perioperative insulin infusions. Patients w ere randomized to either a standard glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) in fusion or a more complex, tailored two-pump protocol. Both methods pro vided similar overall glycemic control. However, the two-pump regimen resulted in a significantly greater proportion of finger-prick results in the target range both preoperatively (47.4% vs 60.1%) and postoper atively (52.0% vs 66.4%). The length of stay (15 vs 16 days), duration of infusion (15 vs 16 hours), and number of medical and nursing incid ents (18% vs 20%) were similar. Although the two-pump protocol require d more changes to the administration rate (2 vs 10), this method was p referred by the nursing staff over the GIK regimen, resulted in more s table glucose control, and is likely to be associated with fewer clini cal errors.