Managing Diabetes and Hyperglycemia in the Hospital Setting ─ A Clinician's Guide

Approximately 11% of adults in the United States have diabetes and globally the number of people with diabetes exceeds 345 million. As the number of patients with diabetes, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, increases annually, it is not surprising that the number of patients with diabetes who are admitted to the hospital also increases.

Patients with diabetes may be admitted to the hospital due to acute or chronic complications of diabetes, but they are more often hospitalized for other medical or surgical problems. The fact that they have diabetes becomes a significant co-morbidity that may affect the outcome of their hospitalization.

Once in the hospital, patients with diabetes or hyperglycemia may be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, require urgent or elective surgery, enteral or parenteral nutrition, intravenous insulin infusion, or therapies that impact significantly on glycemic control (e.g., steroids). Because many clinical outcomes are influenced by the degree of glycemic control, knowledge of the best practice in inpatient diabetes management is extremely important.

The field of inpatient management of diabetes and hyperglycemia has grown substantially in the last several years. This body of knowledge is summarized in this book, so it can reach the audience of hospitalists, endocrinologists, nurses and other team members who take care of hospitalized patients with diabetes and hyperglycemia.

Boris Draznin, MD, PhD is an internationally known leader in the field of diabetes research and clinical practice. At present, he is the Director of the Adult Diabetes Program and the Celeste and Jack Grynberg Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver. On average, his Program oversees the clinical care of three new patients every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for a total of over 1,000 new diabetes patients each year.

He has served as Chair of the Professional Section Advisory Panel of the American Diabetes Association and President of the Western Association of Physicians. Dr. Draznin has authored or co-authored 150 articles in the peer-reviewed literature and has accepted invitations to edit or submit chapters to over 20 books. He has written for professional audiences as well as the general public.