Many patients who undergo open-heart surgery experience an increase in their blood sugar (glucose) levels during and after surgery, which then puts them at a higher risk for infection. In 2002, the Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center was experiencing an infection rate of 3.75 percent. In other words, nearly four of every ten open-heart surgery patients developed an infection.

To combat this, Greenville Hospital System assembled a team of cardiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, endocrinologists, nurses, and statisticians to implement an initiative designed to identify and control glucose levels in these patients. The goal was twofold: reduce the risk of infection and reduce the length of patients’ hospital stays. The hospital began running a preoperative lab test to identify if the patient was diabetic and heretofore undiagnosed. As glucose levels were accurately predicted, the patient could be monitored and glucose levels controlled. This simple test has resulted in Greenville Hospital System reducing open-heart surgeryrelated infection rates to one percent.