Remote Primary Health Care Manuals

Testing for diabetes mellitus — blood glucose and HbA1c

Well lit area.
Wear gloves.
Wear safety glasses.
Pathology collected.
Sharps disposal.
 

Attention

Do not do finger prick tests on children under 6 months — use heel instead

  • Make sure you know how your machines work, how to prepare sample and read result. Read manufacturer’s instructions
  • Finger/heel must be very clean and dry
  • Let blood drop form on its own, or apply gentle pressure if needed. Squeezing will give incorrect results

Testing BGL with glucose meter

Attention

  • Work through these steps when teaching person to self-monitor BGL with a glucose meter

What you need

  • Warm water and soap to wash finger/heel
  • Test strip
  • Glucose meter — calibrated if needed
  • Lancet and lancet devices OR single use lancet
  • Gauze swab or cotton wool ball
  • Small sticking plaster

Figure 5.17  

For prick test, collect blood from either side of finger near the tip or either side of sole of infant's foot near the heel.

What you do

  • Wash finger/heel with soap and warm water, rinse, dry well. Must be completely dry
  • Hold finger/heel pointing downward, prick with lancet — Figure 5.17
    • Pressing firmly against skin beforehand may help get better puncture and blood flow
  • Let a drop of blood form
  • Put test strip in glucose meter and wait for machine to register it is ready for blood
  • Being careful not to touch skin — touch test strip to drop of blood and let strip fill completely
  • Put firm pressure on puncture site to stop bleeding, put on sticking plaster
  • If screen shows an error OR very high or low reading — do test again

Testing HbA1c with point of care (POC Test) test (where available)

Attention

  • Only staff who have been trained should do POC testing

What you need

  • Warm water and soap to wash finger
  • POC testing machine
  • HbA1c testing cartridges
  • HbA1c sample holder
  • Single use lancet OR lancet and lancet device
  • Tissue
  • Cotton wool

What you do

  • Have person wash hands with soap and water, dry thoroughly
  • Puncture finger — Figure 5.17. Let drop of blood form
  • Touch tip of sample holder to drop of blood until capillary tube is completely full
  • Wipe away any extra blood on outside of tube with edge of a folded tissue
  • On flat surface, push sample holder into testing cartridge until it clicks into place — curved edge must face outward
  • When machine shows 'ready' — calibrate cartridge. Run bar code down channel
  • Open door of machine, put testing cartridge into slot — bar code must face right. Press down on cartridge with 2 fingers until it clicks into place
  • Result will display on screen in about 6 minutes (depending on model of machine)