Sponsored: ARKRAY
Monitoring residents’ blood glucose levels is essential for their good health. You can help your long-term-care customers make the process efficient, safe and practical.
“Time management is a huge consideration when managing multiple residents with diabetes,” says Priscilla Bragg, RN, MSN, MSEd, RAC-CT, manager of clinical services at Good Samaritan Society National Campus in Sioux Falls, S.D. Frequent monitoring of residents’ blood glucose levels with a blood glucose meter is one of the many tasks demanding staff’s time. But it’s a necessary one, as it is the only way to get a fast, accurate, real-time assessment of blood glucose levels.
More than 25 percent of Americans aged 65 and older develop Type 2 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Since the majority of people in long-term care facilities are elderly, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in long-term care facilities is high.
By closely monitoring residents with Type 2 diabetes, providers can help ensure that those residents have a healthier lifestyle in the facility as well as after discharge, and that they will be less likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. That’s a big plus for the resident, as well as the hospital and long-term care facility, which can suffer financial penalties for readmissions.
Why monitor?
The body breaks down the sugars and starches we eat into a simple sugar called glucose, which it uses for energy, says the ADA. Insulin is a hormone that the body needs to get glucose from the bloodstream into the cells of the body. In Type 2 diabetes, either the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use insulin correctly. Ninety-five out of 100 people who have diabetes have Type 2 diabetes.
(Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. Only 5 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease.)
Most people with Type 2 diabetes can control their condition with diet, exercise and medications. In some cases, they need insulin. In any case, it is important to maintain blood glucose levels within a healthy range. That’s because over time, inappropriate blood glucose levels may adversely affect the eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart.
Frequent monitoring of blood glucose levels can help identify hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.
Hypoglycemia is a condition characterized by abnormally low blood glucose, usually less than 70 mg/dl. (However, it is important that people with Type 2 diabetes talk to their healthcare provider about their individual blood glucose targets.) Each person’s reaction to hypoglycemia is different, but it often causes symptoms such as:
- Shakiness
- Sweating
- Chills and clamminess
- Irritability or impatience
- Confusion
- Headaches
Left untreated, hypoglycemia can results in seizures and unconsciousness.
Hyperglycemia is the technical term for high blood glucose. High blood glucose occurs when the body has too little insulin or when the body can’t use insulin properly. Hyperglycemia may cause the following symptoms:
- Increased thirst and/or hunger
- Frequent urination
- Sugar in the urine
- Headache
- Blurred vision
- Fatigue
Blood glucose meter
In some centers, each resident has his or her own blood glucose meter. However, some centers use one meter for multiple residents. The ability for nurses to learn and use one system greatly minimizes training requirements, for a more efficient use of staff time. ARKRAY’s customer service team is dedicated to providing in-service training at the facility to help ensure that all nurses are properly trained on the use of its multi-resident blood glucose meters.
Multi-resident meters must be designed and cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for multiple resident use. Ideally, a facility has two meters per medication cart available, to minimize the downtime for nurses during the cleaning and disinfection process required of meters between uses.
An efficient multi-resident blood glucose meter should have the following attributes:
- FDA approval for multi-resident use.
- Consistent, accurate readings from post-surveillance studies. (The Assure Platinum and Assure Prism multi Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems from ARKRAY USA meet ISO 15197:2013 accuracy boundary requirements1-4, whereas other meters on the market may not currently meet these standards.)
- Quick results (5 to 7 seconds), so nurses are able to use time more efficiently.
- Auto test strip ejection for nurses to eject the used test strip without touching it, minimizing the chance of bloodborne infection.
- Simple, easy-to use design that can be properly cleaned between uses. (ARKRAY USA performs Ease-of-Use studies on the Assure Platinum and Assure Prism multi Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems5-7, whereas other companies may not perform these studies post market.)
“With the high prevalence of diabetes in long-term care facilities, it’s imperative that nurses and other healthcare professionals have the proper tools to effectively manage the disease,” says Richard Slouffman, vice president, long-term care, ARKRAY USA. “We at ARKRAY are proud to be a leading supplier of blood glucose meters and other products designed specifically for healthcare professionals caring for people with diabetes in long-term care settings.”
Reference:
- Julie Walker RN BSN PHN, Patricia Gill BA MLT and John Gleisner PhD Accuracy of the Assure Prism multi as it relates to the ISO 15197:2013 requirements in the monitoring of diabetes mellitus. 11th World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. 2015. Los Angeles, CA
- Walker, J., Gill, P., Gleisner, J., Accuracy of a Blood Glucose Meter System (BGMS) as it relates to the ISO 15197:2013 Requirements in the Monitoring of Diabetes Mellitus. Diabetes Summit 2015 – 8th Diabetes Drug Discovery & Development Conference. April, 2015, Boston, MA
- Walker, J., Gill, P., Gleisner, J., Accuracy of the Assure® Prism multi as it relates to the ISO 15197:2013 Requirements in the Monitoring of Diabetes Mellitus, 13th Annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease, November 2015, Los Angeles, CA
- Walker, J., Maher, D., Gill, P., Gleisner, J., Performance of the Assure® Platinum Blood Glucose Monitoring System for Multi-Resident Use in the Long Term Care Setting Against the ISO 15197:2013 Accuracy Criteria, Diabetes Technology Meeting, November, 2016, Bethesda, MD
- Walker, J., Maher, D., Gill, P., Gleisner, J., Evaluation of the Assure® Platinum Blood Glucose Monitoring System’s Ease of Use, The Third International Conference of Long Term Care Directors and Administrators, March 2016, Atlanta, GA
- Walker, J., Maher, D., Gill, P., Gleisner, J., Evaluation of the Assure® Prism multi Blood Glucose Monitoring System’s Ease of Use, 9th Diabetes Drug Discovery & Development, April 2015, Boston, MA
- Walker, J., Gill, P., Gleisner, J., The Evaluation of a Blood Glucose Meter System’s Ease of Use. Diabetes Summit 2015 – 8th Diabetes Drug Discovery & Development Conference. April, 2015, Boston, MA