Abstract
For patients with insulin-treated diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a serious acute complication that often leads to intensive care admission. To overcome perceived shortcomings in care, the Joint British Diabetes Societies (JBDS) published national guidelines for the management of DKA in adults in March 2010. A telephone survey of the 13 general adult intensive care units in the East of England during November 2011 examined how widely four key steps of the guidelines had been adopted in the region. The survey demonstrated that while most units had guidelines for the management of DKA, the majority had not adopted the JBDS guidelines. We recommend that future national guidelines for DKA are developed with the participation of the intensive care community and are disseminated to all intensivists.