LAUSR

Many patients with DKA are admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) due to restriction of insulin infusions outside of ICU areas. Our previous retrospective study showed that 37.0% of patients did not require admission to ICUs. Notably, reduced ICU admissions decrease costs and preserve bed availability for critical patients. Aim: To compare the clinical characteristics and hospital care among patients with DKA admitted to the ICU to those admitted to the non-ICU areas. Methods: A secondary analysis of collected data from the previous DKA study included 170 patients admitted from April-December 2017. Results: Of 170 emergency department (ED) patients, 96 (56.5%) were admitted to an ICU and 74 (43.5%) to non-ICUs; 72 (42.4%) had T1D, 82 (48.2%) had T2D, and 16 (9.4%) had other types of DM. Mean age was 46.9±16.0 years old. The length of ED stay was significantly shorter (4.68±2.4 vs. 9.5±4.4 hours, p Conclusions: Patients in the ICU group had more severe metabolic acidosis and other critical illnesses. Patients with uncomplicated DKA can be safely treated in the ED. Insulin drips should not be the criteria for ICU admission. Further study along with these data can help with the development of a severity scoring tool to identify the appropriate patients for ICU admissions. Disclosure A. Liu: None. K. Carmichael: None. M. Schallom: None. C. Arroyo: None.