Background:~Hospitalization often provides an opportunity to optimise the care of patients with diabetes, however, there could be destabilisation of dietary habits and diabetes therapy during admission. During transition from hospital to home, diabetes treatment may be intensified to control hyperglycemia, such as starting insulin therapy, or, de-escalated, due to risks of hypoglycaemia secondary to variable oral intake and physical activity levels peri-hospitalization.~Achieving optimal glycemic control necessitates frequent blood glucose monitoring. However, patients may perceive repeated self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) as inconvenient, intrusive and laborious as it requires pricking their fingers multiple times, resulting in reduced compliance and poorer glycemic outcomes. Ambulatory flash glucose monitoring (FGM) may overcome this and facilitate more rapid achievement of euglycemia due to the benefit of immediate feedback of glucose levels with changes in diet, medication and activity.~As the transitional care period is a period of stress for patients and an opportunity to encourage behavioural change, we propose that the use of intermittent short term FGM in the first two weeks post discharge, and for another two weeks at a 6-week interval may promote behavioural change resulting in improvements in glycemic control.~Objectives:~To explore the use of FGM in patients with T2DM with baseline HbA1c >9% and requiring insulin who at risk of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia, in facilitating the transition care from inpatient to the ambulatory setting.~This pilot study is exploratory to determine the logistics and feasibility of the protocol, and to collect preliminary information that will lead to a larger grant application for a larger clinical trial in the future.~Hypotheses:~FGM use in patients with T2DM with baseline HbA1c >9% and requiring insulin would facilitate the transition of care from inpatient to the ambulatory setting, resulting in improved glycemic control, as measured by HbA1c at 12 weeks.~FGM use in the transitional care period would lead to improved time in range (TIR), reduced time in hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia, reduced readmission rates for hypo or hyperglycaemia, improved quality of life, reduced loss to follow-up and encourage individual lifestyle modification, without a significant increase in costs and manpower utilization.
This is a pilot study of the use of flash glucose monitoring (FGM) to assess glycemic control, behavioural, quality of life benefits and manpower utilization in poorly controlled T2DM patients on insulin in the transitional care period after discharge from hospital.