Status of continuous glucose monitoring use and management in tertiary hospitals of China: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to reveal the use and management status of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in tertiary hospitals in China and to determine the potential factors affecting the application of CGM, based on which more effective solutions would be produced and implemented. DESIGN: An online, cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 to December 2021. SETTING: Eighty-three tertiary hospitals in China were involved. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-three head nurses and 281 clinical nurses were obtained. OUTCOME: Current condition of CGM use and management, the factors that hinder the use and management of CGM, scores of current CGM use and management, as well as their influencing factors, were collected. RESULTS: Among the 83 hospitals surveyed, 57 (68.7%) hospitals used CGM for no more than 10 patients per month. Seventy-three (88.0%) hospitals had developed CGM standard operating procedures, but only 29 (34.9%) hospitals devised emergency plans to deal with adverse effects related to CGM. Comparably, maternal and children’s hospitals were more likely to have a dedicated person to assign install CGM than general hospitals (52.2% vs 26.7%). As for the potential causes that hinder the use and management of CGM, head nurses’ and nurses’ perceptions differed. Head nurses perceived patients’ limited knowledge about CGM (60.2%), the high costs of CGM and inaccessibility to medical insurance (59.0%), and imperfect CGM management systems (44.6%) as the top three factors. Different from head nurses, CGM operation nurses considered the age of CGM operators, the type of hospital nurses worked in, the number of patients using CGM per month and the number of CGM training sessions as potential factors (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study provides a broad view of the development status of CGM in China. Generally speaking, the use and management of CGM in China are not yet satisfactory, and more efforts are wanted for improvement.