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For Healthcare Professionals

An easy access environment offering a range of educational materials for the healthcare professional with information on various subjects in diabetes management.

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Monitoring

Controlling your blood glucose is a very important part of managing diabetes. Testing your blood glucose regularly helps measure the effectiveness of your meal plan, physical activity and medications. You can use this information to make large-scale decisions, like whether to continue with a particular workout program, or small ones, like whether to eat a snack.

To self-test your blood glucose, you need a blood glucose meter, a test strip and a lancing device. Then, follow these steps:1

  • Wash and dry your hands. Using warm water may help the blood flow.
  • Prick your finger with the lancing device to obtain a drop of blood.
  • Hold the strip to the blood so that it can absorb the amount of blood it needs.
  • Wait a few seconds to view your results.
  • Discard the lancet and test strip properly.

Follow the instructions included with your lancing device to get a drop of blood— which normally include shaking your hands below the wrist or gently squeezing your finger a few times. While testing from the tip of a finger is most common, it is possible to use alternate sites for testing. Other methods of testing and monitoring will look at your blood glucose in the long-term. An A1C, also known as glycated hemoglobin or HbA1c test gives you a picture of your average blood glucose control for the past 120 days (3 to 4 months)

1Joslin Diabetes Center. Blood glucose monitoring: your tool for diabetes control. Available at: http://www.joslin.org/managing_your_diabetes_650.asp. Accessed October 16, 2008.
2American Diabetes Association. A1C test, Available at http://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabetes/a1c-test.jsp . Accessed November 11, 2008.

 

Alternate Site Testing (AST)

Some blood glucose meters allow you to use blood samples from other parts of the body, such as the palm, forearm, upper arm, thigh or calf. Testing from alternate sites is not always ideal. Blood from your fingertip shows changes in blood glucose quickly, but blood from alternate sites may not, and you may not get the most accurate result.1 Always consult with your healthcare professional before using sites other than your fingertip for blood glucose testing.

Alternate site testing, or AST, may be recommended when blood glucose is stable, such as immediately before a meal or before bedtime. AST is not recommended when blood glucose is changing quickly, such as immediately after a meal or after physical activity.

Never ignore symptoms of low or high blood glucose. If your blood glucose test result does not match the way you feel, perform a fingertip test to confirm the result.

1American Diabetes Association. Standards of medical care in diabetes—2008 [position statement]. Diabetes Care. 2007;31:S12–S54. Available at: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/31/Supplement_1/S12 (accessed January 24, 2008).

 

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