Virtual testing of decision support for tight glycemic control in the ICU

The Glucosafe decision support system for glycemic control in intensive care has previously been tested clinically. Evaluating modifications to advice generation requires clinical trials. This study evaluates the use of virtual patients, derived from real patients, and which modifications to Glucosafe advice generation are necessary to lower blood glucose under 6.1 mmol/L. Based on data from 5 real patients, 5 virtual patients were constructed and the groups were compared. Results show that virtual patients are applicable in evaluating modifications to advice generation, with reasonable deviations and that decreasing nutritional intake is necessary to lower mean blood glucose below 6.1 mmol/L.