National survey of Australian endocrinologists on relative importance of pre-existing inpatient diabetes audit fields in preparation for a national hospital audit.

backgroundWhile diabetes is associated with greater rates of adverse inpatient outcomes, effective inpatient glucose management reduces these. Inpatient audits, although time-consuming in nature, are valuable in assessing care quality and identifying potential improvements to reduce glucose-related adversity. Audit rationalisation involves surveying experts to understand relative audit field importance, allowing audit value maximisation. PURPOSE: To survey Australian endocrinologists on the relative importance of inpatient diabetes audit fields to optimise future auditing.

methodsAudit fields used in The Queensland Inpatient Diabetes Survey (QuIDS) and National Diabetes Inpatient Safety Audit (NDISA) were compiled. Endocrinologists were surveyed to rate the importance and feasibility of obtaining data for each field. Mean scores for relative importance and feasibility were calculated on the scale of 0–1.0.

resultsOver the study period 51 responses were received, 49 fully completed. Diabetes type, inpatient diabetes team involvement, admission reason, and treatment regimen had relative importance of above 0.98, while smoking pack-years, excess days on IV insulin infusion, and time of day of hypoglycaemia occurrence had relative importance of less than 0.5. In general, items with higher mean relative importance had higher mean feasibility. Patient-experience survey items were rated as relatively less important and feasible compared to other sections. Free text responses reinforced the time-consuming nature of completing audit fields.

conclusionsThe survey results give insights into inpatient diabetes auditing field modifications to improve data quality and completion rates. Correlation of the study findings with completion rates of future audits will further provide insight into audit field optimisation.