Diabetes screening at local Walmart

Published

Just a quick question; I ran into a question where it asked about diabetes screening at a local Walmart. If it was a volunteering service that is performing diabetes screening only for 1 day at a local Walmart, then what kind of screening would they be doing? Random blood sugar, or A1C? What is the rationale for this? I picked random because the patient does not has to be fasting. And if the patient is symptomatic, then it does not has to be done on a different day.

But A1C sounds good too. So I have a hard time choosing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER, progressive care.

If it's just one day, you'll need to consider the turn around time for an A1C result, that may take a couple of days whereas a random blood sugar would reveal an instant result.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Dialysis.
If it's just one day, you'll need to consider the turn around time for an A1C result, that may take a couple of days whereas a random blood sugar would reveal an instant result.

My MD office can do a finger stick A1C in the time I'm doing my appt.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in FNP.

Neither test requires fasting, but the A1c takes closer to 10 minutes for results. Since individuals shopping would be unlikely to want to wait 10 minutes for results, the random glucose would be more appropriate for that setting.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks people. I didn't consider that a1c would take a while for results. Random glucose sounds like a good test for this situation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion