I can answer this based on my previous experience working in EMS. They call 911. Even if a nurse is in the facility, they call 911. LTC isn't the place for DKA/HHNS, and if their sugar is too low to drink some juice or take some oral glucose, then they need IV dextrose. So they call 911.
Not my experience at all. I had a blood sugar of 29 the other morning and we handled it in the facility...the patient was back up over 100 within 20 minutes with a shot of glucagon. It would be ridiculous to call 911 from a SNF every time a person's blood sugar was high or low.
The only time I recall calling 911 was a pt. whose blood sugar only registered "LO" on the glucometer, and after 2 shots of glucagon was still reading "LO" and was still non-responsive.
NotFlo
353 Posts
Not my experience at all. I had a blood sugar of 29 the other morning and we handled it in the facility...the patient was back up over 100 within 20 minutes with a shot of glucagon. It would be ridiculous to call 911 from a SNF every time a person's blood sugar was high or low.
The only time I recall calling 911 was a pt. whose blood sugar only registered "LO" on the glucometer, and after 2 shots of glucagon was still reading "LO" and was still non-responsive.