6 Important Steps to Using a Glucose Meter

Diabetes is a serious condition that can have debilitating effects on your health. If you are living with diabetes, you know the importance of staying on track with your blood sugar levels. But even if you don’t have diabetes, it’s important to stay vigilant about your health anyway. A glucose meter is one of the best ways to monitor your blood sugar levels, and it’s essential for people with diabetes and anyone else who wants to follow a healthy diet. Below are six steps to using a glucometer:

Step 1: Preparation Of Lancing Device

You will need a lancing device, a diabetes monitoring kit, and sugar-free water to use a glucose meter. To prepare the lancing device:

• Soak it in warm water for 30 minutes to soften it.
• If your meter has a cover, remove it before soaking.
• Soak the lancing device in cold water to cool it down.
• After soaking, clean the device with soap and water.

Step 2: Cleaning Hands And Glucometer

To use a glucose meter accurately, you must clean your hands and the device. First, wash your hands with soap and water. Make sure to get all your hands so the glucose meter can detect any residue on your skin. Dry your hands thoroughly.

Step 3: Preparation Of Glucometer And The Strips

Preparing your glucometer and strips is important to use a glucose meter. Ensure the glucometer is properly calibrated and the strips are fresh.

Calibrating Your Glucometer

Before you can use your meter, it must first be calibrated. This process ensures that the readings you get from the meter are accurate. To calibrate your glucometer, follow these steps:

• Remove the battery cover by gently pushing down on one side of it until it pops off. Be careful not to lose the screws that hold it in place. If you do, you can easily replace them at any hardware store. Remove the two screws that secure the sensor base to the machine housing.
• Remove the sensor by gently pressing down on one end until it comes loose (it should pop out).
• Open the calibration kit that came with your meter and insert the new sensor into the machine housing so that its “thread” aligns with one of the six holes in the housing. Replace both screws and reattach the sensor base to the machine housing.
• Turn on your meter and wait about 10 seconds to start booting up. Once it has loaded, press the [Start] button to begin the calibration procedure. The machine will display a “CALIBRATION COMPLETE” message followed by a glucose reading.

Strips

To use your meter, you will need fresh strips. Ensure the strips are not exposed to moisture, light, or heat. If they have been exposed to these things, they will not work correctly.

• Unwrap the strip from the package and place it on a flat surface. Do not fold it in half.
• Carefully peel off the protective film glued to one end of the strip. You should remove this film in one piece.
• With the adhesive side of the strip facing down, slowly press down on one end until it sticks out about 1/4-inch from the edge of the strip.
• Hold onto the end sticking out and slowly pull it off the strip. Be careful to keep the strip intact while doing this.

Step 4: Clean The Tip Of The Finger With a Dry Swab

Before using the meter, you need to clean the tip of your finger so that the reading is accurate. To clean the tip of your finger:

• Wet your finger and hold it to a running tap until the water clears. Make sure there is no soap residue on your fingertip.
• Use a dry swab to clean the area around the glucose meter’s sensor. Be careful not to wet any part of the meter itself.

Step 5: Take The Blood Sample And Monitor your Blood Sugar Level

• Remove the tab that sticks out of the glucose meter.
• Make sure there is no air in the syringe.
• Inject the needle into your vein and hold your breath while you pull back on the plunger to fill the syringe with blood.
• Let go of the plunger and wait until the meter displays “zero” before puncturing your skin again to take a blood sugar reading. Write down this number on the test strip provided with your glucose meter.
• If you have type II diabetes, check your blood sugar more often than every two hours as directed by your doctor or diabetic specialist from remote patient monitoring companies. Your goal is to keep your blood sugar within a target range as closely as possible, and checking more frequently will help you achieve this aim.

Step 6: Dispose Of The Used Lancet And Test Strips

You must dispose of the used Lancet and test strips in this step.

• Remove the Lancet from the meter.
• Hold the Lancet so that the sensor is facing down.
• Insert one end of the test strip into the Lancet opening and hold it in place while tearing off the remainder.
• Pull the loose paper from inside the Lancet and discard it.
• Replace the Lancet on the meter and hold it so the sensor faces up again.
• Insert one end of another test strip into the other end of the Lancet opening and hold it in place while tearing off the remainder of the strip.

Conclusion

Monitoring your blood sugar levels is essential to managing diabetes, but it’s not always easy. By following these simple steps, you can ensure that your diabetes management stays on track, and you don’t have to worry about making any major mistakes.