A person newly diagnosed with type-1 diabetes in the Zealand region of Denmark in 2018 stayed in hospital for four days on average. In 2023, the average was just two days – and 35% of newly diagnosed patients weren’t hospitalised at all, going home the same day.
It’s the result of a strategy developed and run by Steno Diabetes Center Zealand (SDCS) in collaboration with others. The goal is to reduce admissions and better equip newly diagnosed patients to manage their diabetes at home. It was first tested at the region’s three hospitals before becoming part of daily operations.
Educating and empowering patients
“Previously, we admitted patients when they were referred to us by their (primary care) doctor,” explains Urd Lynge Kielgast, centre manager and chief physician in the Medical Department at Zealand University Hospital, Køge. “They received insulin and had their blood sugar measured and waited for a doctor to see them. This way of starting their life with diabetes did not provide much value to the patients, even though they were within the safe walls of a hospital.”
Now, when a patient is referred by their doctor, they see a diabetes doctor in the hospital’s outpatient clinic on the same day or the next day. This is possible as there is always a diabetes doctor on-call in the department.
Those who are very unwell or who need additional support to manage the condition are admitted as in-patients. The rest – around 35% – go home the same day, with the opportunity to speak to a dietician and a nurse in the following days.
“We want to equip patients to take control of their disease by educating them about diabetes,” says Kielgast.
Sidse-Marie Toubroe, programme manager at SDCS, sees benefits for hospitals too.
“Previously, we had wards that were overcrowded with beds, and diabetes patients who were upset about being hospitalised for many days. So the project has made good sense for both patients and hospitals,” she says.
Improved wellbeing
Nurse Helle Harboe Niemann from the Diabetes Outpatient Clinic at Zealand University Hospital, Køge is one of those who meets with newly diagnosed diabetes patients to talk about living with a chronic illness.
“My most important task as a diabetes nurse is to help patients make diabetes as small a part of their lives as possible,” she explains. “Many have a great sense of guilt: ‘I’m one of those who doesn’t exercise, so it’s my own fault that I got diabetes.’ Then we’ll talk about why that’s not correct.”
She has seen a change in the wellbeing of patients since the new approach.
“I find that the new initiative helps patients feel less sick. They no longer have to put on hospital clothes and lie on a bed in a ward.”
Further information
Novo Nordisk Foundation, Judith Vonberg, Communications Manager,
+45 4172 7925, jvo@novo.dk
Photo: Urd Lynge Kielgast, centre manager and chief physician in the Medical Department at Zealand University Hospital, Køge