Tight glycemic control and point-of-care testing

Until recently, inpatient glycemic management focused solely on the diabetic patient with few reported studies that discussed hyperglycemic management of the nondiabetic patient. For the last 35 years, the prevailing notion was that hyperglycemia in the acutely ill nondiabetic inpatient was a consequence of illnesses as well as a marker of its severity. It was also thought to be an adaptive response to injury necessary for survival and not necessarily a prognostic indicator of morbidity or mortality. In this article, we discuss the current school of thought regarding prognostic implications of nondiabetic inpatient hyperglycemia, its management (tight glycemic control), and the relationship of point-of-care testing to tight glycemic control.