Vol XLVI, Nov '11

At that meeting, the experts reviewed and tweaked the study protocol, created the beta versions of the conversion algorithm and data collection tools to be used, and determined what will be needed for Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews, consent, and recruitment for study participants. Since then, principle investigator T.S. Dharmarajan, MD, and his team have been recruiting facilities to participate in the study. “We planned to recruit 10-12 centers, and we have several commitments already,” he said, noting that many facilities expressed enthusiasm about participating in the study.

 Dr. Dharmarajan and his group have worked on an algorithm and protocol for the study and sent an application to the IRB. “The process is not as simple as one might think. Every step is extremely time consuming,” he said, but he added, “We hope to get the study started as early as next month and complete it sometime in 2012. Following the study, the goal is to ultimately encourage a shift from sliding scale insulin to basal-bolus insulin for the management of diabetes in long term care. We await our study findings with great anticipation."

Watch the Foundation website for updates on this study as it moves forward.