UC Davis Health has significantly and sustainably improved inpatient glycemic care through a coordinated, system-wide approach.

Those findings come from a study published in Diabetes, Obesity, and Cardiometabolic Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association. The article describes how UC Davis Health developed and implemented a multidisciplinary inpatient glycemic management model that improved blood glucose outcomes across the medical center without increasing hypoglycemia — a critical patient safety concern in hospitalized populations.

“Improving inpatient diabetes care requires more than individual interventions. It takes a coordinated, system-wide commitment to patient safety, clinical excellence, and multidisciplinary collaboration,” said Joseph M. Galante, chief medical officer, UC Davis Medical Center. 

The study, he noted, demonstrates how teams across nursing, pharmacy, endocrinology, quality and frontline employees worked together to create a coordinated approach to care. They built a sustainable model that improved outcomes for hospitalized patients while reducing the risks associated with both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.  

“It reflects UC Davis Health’s ongoing commitment to delivering evidence-based, high-quality care through innovation and teamwork,” Galante added.

A phased, system-wide strategy

The initiative was led by the Multidisciplinary Diabetes Care Committee (MDCC) and implemented over several years using a structured, phased approach. Rather than relying primarily on individual consultations, the program focused on strengthening institutional infrastructure and aligning clinical practices across disciplines.

Key components included:

• An active consult service: Inpatient Glycemic Team
• Standardized insulin order sets with embedded clinical decision support
• Multidisciplinary glucose management rounds
• Unit-based diabetes nurse champions
• An ICU insulin infusion protocol co-managed with pharmacists
• Glycemic data and insulin administration dashboards to track performance metrics
• Ongoing education for physicians, trainees, nurses, and allied health professionals