kind methods blood glucose curves

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Juliet Drummond DAVN (med) RVN D32/33 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:16:15 GMT

[quote user="Mrs Dot Dot' Tracey Plant RVN MBVNA"]

[quote user="Kim Blowing RVN"]

[quote user="Kiwi_Em"]

hey just wondering what the general consensus is about reusing insulin syringes. i tend to throw after one use , but some other staff reuse them several times.

[/quote]

Reuse!! Big no no!!!!

[/quote]

Agree! Majorly! Definately not!!!!!

[/quote][quote user="Mrs Dot Dot' Tracey Plant RVN MBVNA"]

[quote user="Kim Blowing RVN"]

[quote user="Kiwi_Em"]

hey just wondering what the general consensus is about reusing insulin syringes. i tend to throw after one use , but some other staff reuse them several times.

[/quote]

Reuse!! Big no no!!!!

[/quote]

Agree! Majorly! Definately not!!!!!

[/quote]

sorry- forgot to quote post i was responding too above

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Juliet Drummond DAVN (med) RVN D32/33 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:15:06 GMT

how can they possibly expect to achieve a accurate curve when the syringe is contaminated with blood from a previous sampling?, not to mention the lack of asepsis

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Juliet Drummond DAVN (med) RVN D32/33 — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:12:36 GMT

[quote user="vanessa"]

The alphatraks aren't that expensive-i'm positive that they're under £100. Worth it when you think that you're getting an accurate reading so better for patient and better for nurses as its so much easier. Call your wholesaler and ask the price but abbott will prob do a better deal.

[/quote]

also contact you rep- we did a swap out for our old human monitors, and got 2 alphatracs free.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

staceyvn — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:42:48 GMT

i tend to *** the ear with 25g needle or cephalic vein with insulin syringe. emla etc first. in my experience you always have some that are good as gold and others that behave less favourably as the day wears on lol

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Mrs Dot Dot — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:37:51 GMT

[quote user="Kim Blowing RVN"]

[quote user="Kiwi_Em"]

hey just wondering what the general consensus is about reusing insulin syringes. i tend to throw after one use , but some other staff reuse them several times.

[/quote]

Reuse!! Big no no!!!!

[/quote]

Agree! Majorly! Definately not!!!!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Kim Buckley — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:05:37 GMT

[quote user="Kiwi_Em"]

hey just wondering what the general consensus is about reusing insulin syringes. i tend to throw after one use , but some other staff reuse them several times.

[/quote]

Reuse!! Big no no!!!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Kiwi_Em — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:35:08 GMT

hey just wondering what the general consensus is about reusing insulin syringes. i tend to throw after one use , but some other staff reuse them several times.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Fiona Leathers — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:01:38 GMT

We have but then you know that cos I told you about it!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Steph Worsley — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:19:50 GMT

Has anyone had success in gaining a buy one get one free recently with the alphatraks???We are looking to get 4 asap so would be fantastic for us. Just need some proof that it has been approved in other places then I can put it forward to the powers that be and Abbott.

We have been discussing catheters etc but have said we would only use them for the keto acidotic patients and then we would actually place a jugular line rather than a cephalic, as it's less likely to collapse the vein.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

dinkyd — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:09:29 GMT

I agree to- have no idea if hep flush would affect result or not - would be great if didnt as saves poor bruised legs after repeated stabbings - my pet hate!We always use insulin needles to take samples and over the last six months have started using the ear *** method - have also seen bruised ears with this method to tho.I try to discourage students taking samples from cephalics when bg curves are getting done and if not using ear opt for jugular - as previously mentioned saves stuffing up the cephalics if venous access required.Does depend on the patient tho.I have also used emla cream on ears when admitted to allow time to work and i alternate ears with each sample to.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Saskia Quinn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:53:45 GMT

[quote user="Bouncyfi"]

I always thought about doing that - with the catheter - but then worried that thehep flush might alter the readings in some way. Not sure in which way, but worried enough to not do it! No one I spoke to could give me a defintive answer regarding that.

[/quote]

I would definitely second that Fi. Any vets I spoke to about the catheter thing never wanted to do it for same reason

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Fiona Leathers — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:41:34 GMT

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Gemma Preston — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:08:54 GMT

This depends on the patient, we tend to use an insulin needle for sampling the blood, we have a glucometer so we only need a drop. The other option is to put an i/v cannula in place and make sure it is kept patent using some hep flush and then regularly drawing the blood out through an injection port.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Saskia Quinn — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:17:06 GMT

I love your idea of insulin needles. Thats the way to go!

Ice-cream and cheese?? Oh dear, he will have to adapt to a diet free of those!!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Emily Hibbs — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:14:34 GMT

Hi,

He's been having blood samples taken from his cephalic veins, using insulin needles. We all love him, he's great! Although I think he might be missing his ice cream and cheese, which apparently his owner feeds him!!!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Bethany Leonard - Williams RVN — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:34:16 GMT

Hi when we do glucose curves on both cats and dogs we clip up the outside of the pinna and then use the finger lance thing that comes with our glucometer - similar to ones used in humans the upside is that it can be done single handed and you only need a drop of blood - if we need to run a more comprehensive glucose check then we would take a jugular or cephalic sample to run on our wet chemisty machine upstair in our lab but that would be more for a single sample - fructosimine check.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:07:26 GMT

Hi Lisa, that method is not much different to the method using th human stabber, if using a small needle, and because you are not going into a vein, you are just pricking the ear as such it is much more tolerable than going for a jugular sample every 2 hours.And patients I have used it on tolerate it very well, and you can do it on your own.Although I have to say I do like Saskias method, especially if you have a fractious patient.

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Saskia Quinn — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:33:50 GMT

[quote user="Emily Hibbs"]

We have the most patient ever dog in at the moment for diabetes stabilisation, he just sits and lies down when you tell him too, doesn't even need anyone to hold him! I've been doing his blood samples throughout the day today and he's just been the best patient!

Agree with using the smallest needle as possible, don't like it when vets use big green ones for repeated blood sampling!!!

[/quote]

Just out of interest Emily, how were you obtaining the samples?

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Saskia Quinn — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:00:12 GMT

Hi Lisa,

thank you for that very nice comment. I actually picked up this tip while attending a diabetes cpd event and now that we have this procedure in place, I no longer dread the diabetic patients in for their glucose curve. It works brilliantly for us and it means I can also do it on my own so having to get a reading every hour is no problem!

Good luck in implementing it, you will be very pleased with the ease of use and patient co-operation! Let us know how you get on!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Lisa Staines — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:52:24 GMT

hi saskia

i think that your method is the kindest method that i have come accros so far. I just had not been able to put it into practice. Now that i have this info im going to try it and make my own mind up. I question STRVN method as you are still going to be repeatedly stabbing the cats ear, and if done frequently this is going to hurt!.

A BIG Thanks to you and everyone that has replied to this thread. It is great to be able to gain better knowledge from other nurses who have actually seen this stuff working

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Maisy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:51:34 GMT

Its a good idea to recommend clients have their own glucometer, and the Alphatrak is very pet-owner friendly. Saves stress on the fractious cats whose glucose is always going to be through the roof when in at the surgery for glucose curves anyway! I'm really pleased with it, and the boss (who whinged like a child when I first got it!) is also preferring it to our old glucometer too. Am sure the animals are happier with the simpler ways of obtaining their blood which is always a good thing!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Katy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:47:50 GMT

Lol, i'll not stress too much then. If the animals are stable we always do a fructosamine anyway to check.

Still going to nag vets to get one of these bad boys. One client even checks her cats' glucose at home, so the buy one get one free offer might be a good'un!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Steph Worsley — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:24:41 GMT

cheers fi i shall pass that on!!!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Fiona Leathers — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:16:30 GMT

Steph - Abbott are doing a "buy one get one free" just now so it's the ideal time to buy it. We are going to sell our second one to the next diabetic client that comes in!! £85 straight into our Christmas fund!!

Re: kind methods blood glucose curves

Steph Worsley — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:59:50 GMT

katy you wont have botched the curves up as for how many years have we been using human glucometers? its just the fact the alphatrak is more accurate for dogs and cats, if you use different machines for each sample thats when you can botch the curves up as you wont be getting consistent results.