I never like to use the word “perfect” when it comes to diabetes. Far less when it comes to being a “perfect” diabetic, although so many of us, including this recovering “perfectionist,” share this impossible desire.

So when I first saw this article,Seeking the Perfect Diabetic Day,” my face immediately turned into Munch’s painting “The Scream” and I was completely ready to condemn whatever the article said. 

Then I read the article and realized “the perfect diabetic day” is a measurement for hospital administrators to quickly see how well their institution is managing the glycemic control of patients. 

Seemingly a step in the right direction as we know hospitals tend to be monoliths with a hundred heads, silos that don’t cross, and filled with overworked providers and staff who need you to write on your body which arm should be operated on. And since practical wisdom says, “no one should be in a hospital without an advocate,” I’ll take all the help we can get.

According to Kalman Holdy, MD of Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, the measure simply looks at the proportion of days during which every blood glucose measurement for every diabetic patient is within the recommended range for hospitalized patients — 70 to 180 mg/dL. 

In an informal poll of 51 nurses, doctors, and pharmacists, the vast majority (98%) said they preferred using perfect diabetic days over average blood glucose values as a performance metric. Personally, I’m all for doing what providers prefer provided it’s not life-threatening to me.

The benefit of using this measure Holdy says is that each hospital unit can improve their glycemic control. Tracking their performance, the percentage of perfect diabetic days increased overall from 33% in 2002 to 43.8% in 2010. 

That’s good, however this next statement seems irresponsible. In terms of a bottom threshold, says Holdy, values lower than 35% should require that some action is taken to improve the quality of institutional glycemic management. Well, that’s kind of scary – 36% glycemic control is considered good enough not to do anything?

I applaud any institution trying to make improvements and when I looked at Sharps a little more closely they do seem to stand out from the pack. They’re making lots of improvements to improve care: lowering noise to increase calm and redesigning the flow of the hospital for greater efficiencies. Not unlike an amazing hospital in Singapore I visited a few years ago.

That said, I do know one other way that better glycemic control can happen in the hospital setting. Let educated patients control their own blood sugar, provided they’re conscious and know their name. I’ve heard way too many stories of one’s insulin and syringes being taken away by a nurse who knows diddly about blood sugar management.