Evaluation of Outcomes Using a Tablet-Based System to Support Glycemic Management Workflow Operations: A Retrospective Observational Study

The treatment of hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes requires glycemic management to maintain the patients’ blood glucose levels within a normal range. We developed a blood glucose management system (BGM) system in 2015, which is a tablet-based workflow support system. This system enables medical staff to continually confirm the physicians’ instructions by measuring the blood glucose levels while using a tablet terminal. In this study, we examined electronic medical records (EMRs) to evaluate the usage frequency of the BGM system and the time required for the glycemic management workflow in comparison to conventional PC terminals in a large hospital setting. The data includes 197,927 blood glucose level measurements that were taken in the general wards of Tottori University Hospital between January 2016 and June 2017. The usage frequency of the glycemic management workflow while using the BGM system was 145,864 times (approximately 74% of the total blood glucose measurements). The mean time until the completion of the glycemic management workflow in the case of hyperglycemia was 16 min 33 s, which is 26% shorter than using a PC terminal for treatment that involves injection or infusion (1454 times). The BGM system is proactively utilized by medical staff, thereby improving the operating efficiency. The results of this study indicate that the BGM system installed on tablet terminals can improve the efficiency in large-scale medical institutions that treat patients with diabetes.