The technique of insulin administration: the algorithm of action, features and recommendations

Insulin is a pancreatic hormone that regulates the process of carbohydrate metabolism in the body. With its lack, the level of sugar in the blood rises, which leads to a pathological severe condition. Fortunately, for modern people, diabetes is not a sentence. The amount of insulin is regulated with the help of special injections. This is the main method of treatment for diabetes I and sometimes type II. Calculation of dosage is carried out individually for each patient, but the technique of introducing insulin is the same for everyone, with her and get acquainted in the article.

Why do I need injections?

For various reasons, the pancreas starts to work incorrectly. Most often this is expressed in a decrease in the production of the hormone insulin, which, in turn, leads to a disruption in the processes of digestion and metabolism. The body becomes unable to get energy from consumed food and suffers from an excess of glucose, which, instead of being absorbed by the cells, accumulates in the blood. When this condition occurs, the pancreas receives a signal about the need for insulin synthesis. But because of violations of the body's work the hormone is released in insignificant quantities. The condition worsens, and the amount of its own insulin, meanwhile, tends to zero.

To correct a situation it is possible only supplying cells with an analogue of a hormone. Therapy continues for life. A diabetic patient performs injections several times a day. It is important to do them in a timely manner, in order to avoid critical conditions. Insulin therapy allows you to monitor blood sugar levels and maintain the pancreas and other organs at the proper level.

General rules for the implementation of injections

The technique of insulin administration is the first thing that the patients learn after they discover a diabetes mellitus. The procedure is simple, but it requires basic skills and understanding of the process. An obligatory condition is observance of rules of aseptic and antiseptic, i.e. sterility of the procedure. For this you need to remember the following standard sanitary and hygienic standards:

• Hand before the procedure should be washed;
• Injection zone is wiped with a damp, clean cloth or antiseptic;
• For the injection, special disposable syringes and needles are used.

At this stage, you should know that alcohol destroys insulin. When treating the skin with this product, it is necessary to wait for its complete evaporation, and then proceed to the procedure.

Typically, insulin is administered 30 minutes before eating. The doctor, based on the characteristics of the appointed synthetic hormone and the patient's condition, will give individual recommendations on the doses of the medicine. Usually during the day, two types of medication are used: with short or prolonged action. The technique of insulin administration is somewhat different.

Where to put an injection?

Any injection involves certain places recommended for its effective and safe conduct. The injection of insulin can not be attributed to either intramuscular or intracutaneous injection. The active substance must be delivered to the subcutaneous fatty tissue. When insulin enters the muscle tissue, its effect is unpredictable, and the sensations during the injection are painful. Therefore, the injection can not be put anywhere: it just does not work, which will significantly worsen the patient's condition.

The technique of introducing insulin involves the use of the following parts of the body:

• Front upper thigh;
• Belly (the area near the navel);
• External fold of buttocks;
• shoulder.

At the same time for self-injection the most convenient places are the hips and abdomen. Two of these zones are for different types of insulin. Strokes with prolonged action are preferably placed in the hips, and quick-acting - in the navel or shoulder area.

How is this explained? Experts say that in the subcutaneous fatty tissue of the hips and the outer fold of the buttocks, a slow absorption occurs. Just what you need for long-acting insulin. And, on the contrary, practically instantaneous reception by cells of an organism of the entered substance occurs in the area of a stomach and shoulders.

Which injection sites are best excluded?

It is necessary to adhere to clear recommendations regarding the choice of the area of the injection. They can only be listed above. And if the patient performs the injection alone, it is better to choose the front of the thigh for long-acting substance, and the stomach for the ultra-short and short insulin analogues. This is because the injection of the drug into the shoulder or buttocks can be difficult. Often patients can not independently form a skin fold in these areas to get into the subcutaneous fat layer. As a result, the drug is mistakenly injected into muscle tissue, which in no way improves the condition of the diabetic.

Avoid areas of lipodystrophy (areas with missing subcutaneous fat) and retreat from the site of the previous injection of about 2 cm. Injections are not injected into the inflamed or healed skin. To exclude these unfavorable places for the procedure, make sure that there are no redness, seals, scars, bruises, signs of mechanical damage to the skin on the planned area of the injection.

How correctly to change places of injections?

Most diabetics are insulin-dependent. This means that every day they have to carry out several injections of the drug in order to feel good. In this case, the zone of injections must constantly change: this is the technique of introducing insulin. The algorithm of the performed actions assumes three variants of the development of events:

1. Carrying out an injection near the site of the previous injection, deviating from it about 2 cm.
2. Separation of the area of introduction into 4 parts. For a week they use one of them, then they switch to the next one. This allows the skin of other sites to rest and regenerate. From the injection site in one lobe also stand a distance of several centimeters.
3. Divide the selected area in half and chop alternately into each of them.

The technique of subcutaneous administration of insulin allows the active substance to be delivered to the body at the required rate. Because of this, one should adhere to the constancy in choosing the area. For example, if the patient began to inject the drug of prolonged action into the hips, then it must be continued. Otherwise, the rate of absorption of insulin will be different, which eventually leads to fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

Calculation of the dose of the drug for adults

Selection of insulin - the procedure is purely individual. The daily number of recommended units of the drug is affected by different indicators, including weight and length of the disease. Specialists found that in the general case, the daily need of a patient with diabetes mellitus in insulin does not exceed 1 unit per 1 kg of body weight. If this threshold is exceeded, complications develop.

The general formula for calculating the dosage of insulin looks like this:

D _day × M, where:

• D _daily - the daily dose of the drug;
• M is the mass of the patient's body.

As can be seen from the formula, the technique of calculating insulin is based on the amount of the organism's need for insulin and the body weight of the patient. The first indicator is determined based on the severity of the disease, the age of the patient and the "length of service" of diabetes.

Having found out the daily dose, calculate. One can enter diabetics no more than 40 units a day, and within a day - within 70-80 units.

Example of calculating the dose of insulin

Let's say that the body weight of a diabetic is 85 kg, and the _day is equal to 0.8 U / kg. Let's perform the calculations: 85 × 0.8 = 68 units. This is the total amount of insulin a patient needs per day. To calculate the dosage of long-acting drugs, the number obtained is divided into two: 68 ÷ 2 = 34 units. Doses are distributed between the morning and evening injection in a ratio of 2 to 1. In this case, we get 22 units and 12 units.

On the "short" insulin remains 34 units (out of 68 daily allowances). It is divided into 3 consecutive injections before meals depending on the planned amount of consumption of carbohydrates or divide batchwise, accounting for 40% for the morning and 30% for lunch and evening. In this case, the diabetic will enter 14 ED before breakfast and 10 ED before lunch and dinner.

Other schemes of insulin therapy are possible, in which insulin of prolonged action will be more "short". Calculation of doses in any case should be supported by measuring the level of sugar in the blood and carefully monitoring the state of health.

Calculation of dosage for children

The child's body needs much more insulin than an adult. This is due to the intensive growth and development. In the first years after diagnosing the disease, a child weighs 0.5-0.6 units per kilogram of body weight. After 5 years, the dosage is usually increased to 1 U / kg. And this is not the limit: in adolescence, the body may need up to 1.5-2 U / kg. Subsequently, the value is reduced to 1 unit. However, with prolonged diabetes decompensation, the need for insulin administration increases to 3 U / kg. The value is gradually reduced, leading to the original.

With age, the ratio of the hormone of long-term and short-term action varies: in children up to 5 years, the amount of the drug of prolonged action predominates, to the teenage age it decreases significantly. In general, the technique of introducing insulin to children does not differ from the injection of an adult. The difference is only in daily and single doses, as well as the type of needle.

How do I inject with an insulin syringe?

Depending on the form of the drug, diabetics use special syringes or syringe-pens. On the cylinders of insulin syringes there is a scale of division, the price of which for adults should be 1 unit, and for children - 0.5 units. Before the injection it is necessary to perform a series of successive steps, which prescribes the technique of introducing insulin. The algorithm for using an insulin syringe is as follows:

1. Wipe your hands with antiseptic, prepare a syringe and draw air into it until the mark of the planned number of units.
2. Insert the needle into the vial of insulin and release the air into it. Then, draw a little more into the syringe of the drug than necessary.
3. Tap on the syringe to remove the bubbles. Release excess insulin back into the vial.
4. Place the injection site with a damp cloth or antiseptic. Form a crease (not required for short needles). Insert the needle at the base of the skin fold at an angle of 45⁰ or 90⁰ to the skin surface. Do not let go of the crease, push the piston to the end.
5. After 10-15 seconds, fold the pleat, remove the needle.

If it is necessary to mix NPH-insulin, the drug is taken on the same principle from different vials, preliminary letting in air in each of them. The technique of introducing insulin to children requires an identical algorithm of action.

Injection with a syringe pen

Modern drugs to regulate blood sugar levels are often released in special syringes-pens. They are disposable or reusable with replaceable needles and differ in the dosage of one division. The technique of subcutaneous administration of insulin, the algorithm of action presupposes the following:

• If necessary, mix insulin (spin in the palms or lower the hand with a syringe from the height of the shoulder down);
• Release 1-2 units in the air to check the patency of the needle;
• Turning the roller at the end of the syringe, set the necessary dose;
• Form a pleat and inject as in the insulin syringe technique;
• After injection, wait 10 seconds and remove the needle;
• Close it with a cap, scroll and discard (disposable needles);
• Close the syringe pen.

Similar actions are also carried out for the injection to children.

Diabetes mellitus is a serious disease requiring constant monitoring of blood sugar level and regulation by injections with insulin. The technique of making injections is simple and accessible to everyone: the main thing is to remember the places of introduction. The main rule is to get into the subcutaneous fat tissue, forming a fold on the skin. Insert a needle into it at an angle of 45 ° or perpendicular to the surface and push the plunger. The procedure is simpler and faster than the instructions for conducting it are read.