The team titled their campaign ‘Don’t Risk it For a Biscuit’ and used data from the 2015 National Inpatient Diabetes Audit (NaDIA) for the Hammersmith renal unit as the basis of their education.
The findings showed:
They also identified some of the issues which were also linked to the condition which included:
Following on from the original audit in 2015, a month-long audit was conducted on three of the renal wards to assess if the original audit was accurate and if so how could this be improved.
Results demonstrated that hypoglycaemia was indeed common (93 episodes) and that treatment and documentation did not fit with the Trust policy.
As a result of the data the team launched their campaign which involved prescribing two digestive biscuits to patients who had a bedtime glucose of <10mmols.
This was a collaborative campaign involving, not only the renal DSN, but the renal dieticians and pharmacists.
When re-audited it was found that hypoglycaemia had been reduced by almost two thirds (35) just by this simple innovation.