LO067: Emergency department management of diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state: national survey of attitudes and practice

Abstract

Introduction: The 2011 Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) Clinical Practice Guidelines were developed in order to help physicians manage hyperglycemic emergencies in the emergency department (ED), including diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state (HHS). The goal of this study was to determine physician attitudes towards these guidelines and to identify potential barriers to their implementation in the ED. Methods: We distributed an online, cross sectional survey to 500 randomly selected members of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) who were currently practicing physicians. A total of 3 email notifications were distributed on days 1, 7 and 14. The survey consisted of 23 questions relating to physician management of DKA and HHS in the ED. The primary outcome was overall physician familiarity and usage of the guidelines using a 7-point Likert scale. Secondary outcomes included physician attitudes towards the guidelines as well as any perceived barriers to their implementation in the ED. Simple descriptive statistics were used to illustrate the survey results. Results: The survey response rate was 62.2% (311/500) with the following participant characteristics: male (62.6%), CCFP(EM) training (46.1%) and working in major academic centers (50.5%). The overall awareness rate of the CDA guidelines was 22.9% (95% CI = 18.3%, 27.5%). 58.9% (95% CI = 53.3%, 64.3%) reported the CDA guidelines being useful. The most frequently reported barriers to CDA guideline implementation were concerns about education issues (56.0%), lack of time and disruption of flow (23.9%), staffing and human resource issues (26.7%) and poor policy adherence (25.5%). Physician’s ideal changes to optimize the management of these patients included improved coordination for follow-up with family physicians (79.9%), increased diabetes education for patients (73.9%) and increased availability to diabetes specialists (47.5%). Conclusion: In this study, although Canadian ED physicians were generally supportive of the CDA guidelines, many were unaware that these guidelines existed and barriers to their implementation were reported. Future research should focus on strategies to standardize DKA and HHS management by ensuring physician awareness and education to ensure the highest quality of patient care.