Early intervention for hospitalised patients with diabetes can improve glycaemic control and reduce nosocomial infections, a world-first Australian trial shows.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital researchers have also shown that individualised treatment aimed at eliminating glycaemic extremes — rather than protocol-driven intensive insulin treatment — results in better patient outcomes.

The Randomised Study of a Proactive Inpatient Diabetes Service (RAPIDS) trial, the first such study in non-critical care, compared early intervention with usual care among 1002 consecutive adults with diabetes in four medical and four surgical wards at the hospital over a six-month period.

The intervention model included a specialist inpatient diabetes team, who aimed to provide bedside management within 24 hours of admission and reviewed patient blood glucose data.