blood glucose 68, still need insulin?

[victorsunshine]

I ran across one question, the patient's blood glucose is 68, what shall you do? do you still admister the insulin or give simple sugar? the correct answer is give insulin, why? isn't the patient already hypoglycemic?

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

Give it while they are eating that way you know they eat.

[dave787]

i would answer hold, even if thats short acting. the patient would experince hypoglycemia. it would be right if you post the whole question.

[Lorodz]

yes, i reckon, pleaSe post the complete question so that we can stop guessing. thanks

[CRNA2BKY]

Your bodies natural response to illness is to make more sugar.Often this will mean you will need to take a higher dose of insulin than usual,rather than cutting the dose or not taking it.Reducing or not taking it can lead to serious problems such as diabetic ketoacidosis.

Give insulin when the body needs it. During times of stress and illness, the body responds by producing more glucocorticoids leading to higher blood glucose levels. We give the insulin to counteract these high levels of glucose in the patients blood. A blood sugar of 68 does not indicate a high level of glucose, and therefore DKA will NOT occur. Period. DKA occurs with hyperglycemia, not hypoglycemia. This patient is not at risk (at the moment) for hyperglycemia.

Everyone listen up: EVERY single NCLEX study guide, and I mean EVERY ONE, has errors in it! Do not think that just because the "correct" answer in the book is the actual correct answer in real life. You must use your brains and think. If an answer goes against all reason and logic, then the answer is wrong. I have discovered many wrong answers in the many NCLEX study guides that I used to prepare myself.

Be careful out there. Answer questions based on logic and reason.