Access to inpatient diabetes resources: hospital characteristics from the inaugural Queensland Inpatient Diabetes Survey.

AIMS To establish the prevalence of diabetes in Queensland hospitals and assess the availability of specialised diabetes staff, educational resources and policies for inpatient diabetes management, including assessing equity of access to these resources. METHODS The hospital capacity, prevalence of diabetes, diabetes-related resources and the availability of diabetes-related guidelines were assessed in 25 hospitals medical, surgical, mental health, high-dependency and intensive care wards of level 2-6 public hospitals across Queensland. Diabetes-dedicated staffing measured in full-time equivalents, care delivery resources, access to educational resources, standard policies and procedures for care were assessed. RESULTS Twenty-five hospitals included 4265 occupied beds. The median prevalence of diabetes was 22.9% (IQR 17.3-28.5%) with an average 2.9 FTE per 100 patients with diabetes (IQR 0-6.3). There was difficulty in accessing a diabetes educator in 48% (n = 12), diabetes specialist in 44% (n = 11), orthopaedic surgeon in 48% (n = 12), podiatrist in 58% (n = 14) and vascular surgeon in 64% (n = 16) of hospitals. Small hospitals had more difficulty accessing all members of the diabetes team compared to large hospitals including credentialled diabetes educators 33% (n = 4) versus 62% (n = 8) (p = 0.0001), diabetes specialists 17% (n = 2) versus 69% (n = 9) (p < 0.00001) and vascular surgeons 33% (n = 4) versus 92% (n = 12) (p < 0.000001). Diabetes-related staff education and regular nurse training was available in 40% (n = 10) of hospitals. A multi-disciplinary foot care team was available in 28% (n = 7) of hospitals. CONCLUSIONS Queensland's has a high prevalence of diabetes in hospitalised patients and they have limited and inequitable access to inpatient diabetes-related care. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.