Dosing Software Controls Intravenous Insulin Administration

New software is being used by hospital nurses to quickly and accurately calculate the dosage of intravenous (IV) insulin administered to patients with elevated levels of blood glucose.

The Medical Decisions Network (MDN) MDN-CGS IV insulin dosing software computerizes insulin administration calculations and provides automated patient reports. The software not only improves glucose control and saves critical time and resources, but may reduce potentially dangerous dosing calculation errors as well.
The CGS is a networked application, accessible from any computer on a hospital's network, allowing clinicians to continue a patient's infusion progress even when the patient is moved to a new unit. The MDN-CGS software is a product of Medical Decisions Network (Charlottesville, VA, USA), and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"Based on what we've seen so far, by automating our insulin dosing protocol with the MDN-CGS software, we expect to see a decrease in length of stay of one day and up to a 50% decrease in mortality in our hyperglycemic intensive care unit (ICU) patients,” said Gary Stouder, M.D., of Hancock Regional Hospital (Greenfield, IN, USA).

Currently, most hospitals rely on printed protocols to calculate IV insulin dosage based on the hyperglycemic patients' varying glucose levels. More frequent glucose tests--as many as one or more per hour for tightly controlled ICU patients--burden the already overextended nurses, while constant referring to complicated paper protocols stresses clinical staff even more.


Related Links:
Medical Decisions Network
Hancock Regional Hospital