Alcohol use with insulin injections and BG sticks

[CrazierThanYou]

i work in an assisted living facility as a cna. we have a resident who is diabetic, she gets her bg checked once a day and 1 insulin injection a day. i always use alcohol pads when checking her sugar or injecting her. the last time i worked, there were no pads so i used alcohol on a cotton ball (the administrator isn't very conscientious or organized when it comes to keeping us in supplies).

yesterday, i was at the facility and observed the cna who was working check the resident's sugar and give her the insulin with nothing. no alcohol or anything. i asked her why she didn't use any alcohol and she said "no one ever does, its no big deal".

isn't that an infection risk?

[ayla2004, ASN, RN]

WHO document on infection control for global injection non venous.

Bulletin of the World Health Organization - Best infection control practices for intradermal, subcutaneous, and intramuscular needle injections

EBP does not support alcohol

[jorjaRN]

i think about half the reason to use alcohol is to make sure that the site you're sticking is simply clean, not necessarily sterile. for example, if someone was just eating an orange and had juice on their hand and their finger wasn't clean, then you would get a falsely elevated reading. i always use alcohol, but a warm washcloth would probably work just as well.

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

Okay, that makes me feel a little better. I am a diabetic and I usually don't use alcohol when I check my bs... (I confess I also use the lancets more than once)

I feel like I have the choice not to bother with alcohol when its me, but I feel better using alcohol on my residents.

Me too. I use my lancet until it's actually hurting me when I stick. I wash my hands and never use alcohol. My sister has Type 1 and I've never seen her use alcohol, either. In fact, she often injects her insulin right through her shirt! First time I saw that I about died. But she's been doing it for years and never had a problem.

However, in any institutional setting I would always use alcohol since those places are replete with germs...

[brownbook]

Good topic, but Jackierocks, what is an EPB? Thanks