AC & HS

[TopazLover, BSN, RN]

I am sure you know that ac means before meals. Reason for this is to determine blood sugar before eating to see if there are insulin needs not being met by natural insulin, added insulin or oral meds that increase insulin production. That's the basics.

Biggest reason for hs check is to be sure the person is not likely to have an insulin reaction in sleep. This is very scary and many people have died as a result of lowered blood sugars.

When people are under any type of stress-infection,illness, emotional, lack of sleep, certain meds., etc. They will have higher blood sugars. We usually have to titrate insulin to the individual requirements as their conditions change.

Is this what you needed?

[BradleyRN]

AC is before meals, and HS is at bedtime. Thus, there would be 4 accuchecks in 24 hours at 0730, 1130, 430, and 9 PM (for example)

[mpccrn, BSN, RN]

ac accu checks are done a 1/2 prior to a meal with coverage via a sliding scale ordered by the physician. hs checks done usually somewhere between 8-9:00 pm.

[tghdesigner]

Great clarification and explanations.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Thank you for asking for clarification!! I am struggling with teaching that "ACHS" is NOT synonymous with fingersticks! I get this in report: pt is ACHS Q6H. UGH!  Now when I update a board, I put AC & HS, reminding people that it stands for something. Also, just because a pt has blood glucose checks, they are not necessarily diabetic. Or on insulin. 

[Minsk]

Ante Cibum (before meals in latin) and Hours of Sleep (before going to sleep), it means that the blood sugar levels of this person needs to be controlled every time before having food, and before going to sleep at night.

ACHS is not related to diabetes per se, imagine it as the same kind of thing as NPO (non per os, nothing by mouth) or Q4H (every four hours), they are simply some kind of medical order.

 

 

[Minsk]

And before I forget ACCUCHECK is simply the brand of the glucometer or test used to measure glucose in blood.

So the best way to specify it would be Glucose Levels ACHS, leaving out the brand....

[Minsk]

BradleyRN said:

AC is before meals, and HS is at bedtime. Thus, there would be 4 accuchecks in 24 hours at 0730, 1130, 430, and 9 PM (for example)

Not really, it can be 1 or 2 or as many times the patient eats a substantial meal, (normally we exclude small snacks, but to precise it should be any time the patient initiates a meal) The same will happen with the HS part, if the patients takes a nap we normally don't measure it, but it the patient sleeps regularly a big nap after lunch 1 to 2 hours we should measure it.