Inpatient Diabetes Teaching May Reduce Trips to the Hospital
Outpatient diabetes teaching from your healthcare provider has shown to increase compliance to medicine regimens and improve blood glucose levels. However, many people with diabetes may not have access to such outpatient care on a regular basis due to lack of insurance or financial issues. Therefore, a recent study looked at how effective inpatient diabetes teaching may be in a hospital setting. It was found that inpatient teaching that included meal planning, blood glucose tracking, and how to use an insulin pump reduced future hospital trips by about one-third in one month and nearly one-fourth in 6 months. Future studies will look at how much money such an inpatient teaching program could save both the hospital, insurance companies, and the patient.