Using a Nurse-Led Telehealth Intervention to Improve Fasting Glucose Levels in Patients With Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Undergoing a Surgical Intervention

BACKGROUND Uncontrolled diabetes during the perioperative period can result in a variety of adverse postoperative outcomes. OBJECTIVE Evaluate a nurse-led telehealth preoperative intervention to improve glycemic control. METHODS Provide telehealth diabetes education prior to surgery and evaluate time spent and pre-/post-glucose levels. Between-group differences were used to assess glycemic control. RESULTS There was no significant difference in scores for those who received the telephone intervention (M = 167.71, SD = 59.9) and those who did not receive the intervention (M = 171.44, SD = 54.9; t (44) = 0.220, p = .82, two-tailed). The magnitude of the differences in the means was very small (Cohen's d = 0.03). There was a reduction in pre- and post-glucose levels for both groups. CONCLUSIONS Although the findings were not statistically significant, there may be some clinical significance. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING The clinical significance has implications for nursing due to participants choosing to delay surgery and potentially preventing adverse outcomes.