by John Ngijseh follow me on twitter here
I am often asked about the best glucometer to use for multiple patients. The answer is often not as straight forward as suggesting one glucometer. In fact, testing blood glucose on multiple patients requires a number of items which all come together to ensure testing is safe for the patient and accurate. For an example see, multiple patient use glucometer pack.
One of the key considerations to allow multiple patient testing is not so much the glucometer but the actual lancing device used. It is the process of taking a blood sample which is one of the big risk areas with regard to blood infections. For this reason I would recommend using a single use lancing device with a lancet contained within. A good example of such a device would be the Unistik 3 Comfort lancets. These lancets are designed so that they can act as a single use lancing device and then can be disposed off. Unlike traditional lancing devices, you do not use the same lancing device for each patient, instead each lancet is a lancing device and so each patient is treated with a new lancet and lancing device system; thereby preventing any risk to the patient of contact with another patient’s blood sample.
In terms of glucose meters, a quick result, a good memory and a large display are all desirable features.
Used test strips should be handled with care and should be disposed off in clinical waste or in a sharps bin with the lancing devices.
When possible the test strips should kept in their container with the lid closed. Prolonged exposure to the outside environment may effect the effectiveness of the strips.
So to recap, the key to multiple patient testing is new fresh lancing devices, use a meter with a good sized screen and ideally with no coding requirements for the test strips and keep test strips in their container for as long as possible. All waste should be disposed off with care.
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