Dead space in Insulin syringes

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Has anyone ever encountered difficulty with certain insulin syringes in getting what appears to be air at the top of the syringe out? For instance even though I attempt to push the "air" out it just stays there and insulin comes out. How do you explain that? Also flicking it doesn't make it go away.

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Draw up a couple extra units so that you can expell it. Once youre getting a constant flow of insulin out of the needle top you know theres no more air in there. thats usually how I go about it.

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Ours always have a small bubble that does not seem to be able to be expelled- no matter what. According to our director, the manufacturer says the dose is accurate despite the bubble.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.

Try leaving the insulin needle in the bottle while the bottle is turned upside down and pull on the plunger faster. After a few tries this generally works for me if flicking the syringe doesn't work. I do this with anything I'm drawing up, just leave the needle inside the bottle, pull back on the plunger fast, expel the air/excess amount back into the bottle/vial and voila!

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