I hadn't planned on revisiting this
topic so soon, but a discovery made it almost mandatory. Apparently,
there is a lot of disagreement about how to clean you hands before
blood glucose testing. The following facts from Discuss Diabetes
have me in a more than a little concerned.
This is just one of many polls that
appear on the site. My concern is for those people that use the last
two methods before testing and need to wonder why they are not
concerned about the accuracy of their testing. I have had the
hospital nurses use the hand-sanitizer when in the hospital and
unable to get out of bed to use the bathroom, but they always used
the alcohol pad for the finger they were going to use. All but one
of the nurses used the second drop of blood. This meant that they
wiped the first drop off with a cotton swab and used the second drop.
I am concerned about those that use the
alcohol swab, but only for those that may have been processing or
handling cut up fruit before testing. Well, I am also concerned
about those in the winter climates that may have their fingers dry
out and crack by using the alcohol swabs. The first will cause
higher readings on the meter and if they are injecting insulin, they
may inject too much insulin causing hypoglycemia. The second will
make testing quite painful.
I have written about the above
paragraph here and there is a good article on the same topic when
dealing with fruit here. Please find it in your heart to read and
follow the correct method for cleaning your hands before testing.
Yes, that is the first method in the
poll above. This is important and most test strips have this in the
instructions packaged in the box holding the test strip container of
test strips. Wash your hands with warm water and soap and pay
particular attention to the finger to be used for testing. Rinse and
dry your hands thoroughly because your do not want to handle the test
strips with wet fingers and waste test strips.
Take time to read the instruction with
your test strips please. I see more people with diabetes misusing
their test strips and not carrying them in the container they came
in. You cannot get accurate readings from mishandled test strips.
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