In the current second phase of this project (Phase-2), we will introduce the refined, validated, and safe eProtocol-insulin into a second group of naïve ICUs, none of which participated in eProtocol-insulin development, refinement or validation. Our primary goal in this second phase is to determine the feasibility of exporting this tool to naïve ICU environments. In this second phase we will also compare the effects of the eProtocol-insulin and ordinary care approaches to glucose control on the bedside nurse's experience.
This second phase will be a prospective cohort study. We will determine the feasibility of distributing eProtocol-insulin and will further validate eProtocol-insulin in \>4 adult and \>4 pediatric ICUs. If necessary we will modify eProtocol-insulin with an iterative refinement process, with Institutional Review Board (IRB) and independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) oversight. eProtocol-insulin will be considered refined if \>90% of the instructions are accepted and if the percent of glucose values between 70 and 110 mg/dl (3.9-6.1 mMol/L) are equivalent to our Phase-1 refinement and validation experience of 46%%, and if the rate of glucose values \< 40 mg/dl (2.2 mMol/l) is less than 0.5% of glucose measurements.
