The Joint Commission-ADA Advanced Inpatient Diabetes Certification represents a clinical program of excellence, improved processes of care, means to enhance contract negotiations with providers, ability to create an environment of teamwork, and heightened communication within the organization.
Hemoglobin A1c is the measurement of glycated hemoglobin and can aid in both the diagnosis and continued management of diabetes mellitus. Accurate glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (A1c) measurements are an essential part of decision making in the diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although national standards exist to eliminate technical error with A1c testing, multiple patient conditions can falsely decrease or elevate the A1c. In this review, we discuss the methods to measure A1c and the corresponding conditions that can affect the clinical utility of the test. Conditions that affect the A1c can be either those that impair erythrocyte production or alter the normal process of glycation. Some variation also has been associated with patient ethnicity and even with normal aging. We describe alternatives to A1c testing for the above clinical scenarios in an effort to make the practicing clinician aware of alternatives for glucose evaluation.
The pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus involves several biologic mechanisms and no single medication addresses them all. Most patients require more than one medication to adequately treat their diabetes, needing drugs with unique and complementary mechanisms of action to address and balance insulin and glucagon levels. In the past decade, several therapeutic drug classes have been developed for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Each provides therapeutic options with novel mechanisms of action to help clinicians achieve the goal of glucose homeostasis while controlling adverse events, especially reducing the risk of hypoglycemia.
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