Do you have a blood glucose meter in your office?

[ohiobobcat]

Do you keep a stock blood glucose meter in your office? What brand? How do you stock test strips?

I had a non-diabetic student pass out the other day. By the time I got to the student he was awake and talking and vitals were stable, so I didn't call EMS. Parents were reached and student was taken directly to the ER via private vehicle.

I heard through the grapevine that doctor who ended up caring for this student was wondering why I didn't check a blood glucose. I have a bunch of glucose meters in my office from the previous school nurse. I'm guessing they were company samples, and all the testing strips have expired. Testing strips are expensive, and I don't think I can justify the cost of spending $50+ on a container of test strips that I MIGHT use 2x per year if I am lucky. Especially since I have to throw them away 30 days after I open them.

[Farawyn]

Yes. I have one. I'm embarassed to say I haven't even checked to see if there are batteries in it. I have no KNOWN diabetics in my school.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Try contacting a blood glucose company (maybe the company that made one you have) and see if they'll give you a strips and maybe a new meter for free. I got these things from a drug rep. when I worked as a community health nurse in a senior apartment complex.

It's worth a try. They give things away all the time--it's good PR and they can deduct it from their taxes!

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I have one, but I also have a few diabetics in my school. I use it a lot more often than I thought I would. I budget test strips into my budget. I have a TRUEresult meter and I can get 100 test strips for ~$18 on Amazon.

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

The consumer models are made to be single-patient use only (both the meter and the lancing devices). Also, the meters intended to be used in the clinic or hospital settings require daily QC checks. Do you use single-patient lancets?

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

The consumer models are made to be single-patient use only (both the meter and the lancing devices). Also, the meters intended to be used in the clinic or hospital settings require daily QC checks. Do you use single-patient lancets?

I am assuming this question is for me :).

I do use single patient lancets; lancet is changed out for every stick. Lancets are cheap - I stock about 100-200 in my office for less than $10. I also QC my machine regularly with a control solution. I have this machine as a backup for my diabetics mainly; sometimes they run out of strips for their own machine/machine error/etc. I can't risk not being able to check a BG.

[ohiobobcat]

I have single patient lancets, which I ordered last year. I was able to use a few of the testing strips lat year before they expired (they were individually wrapped) and realized the lancet pen wasn't going to work so well for multiple student use! I have no way to perform QC checks on the meters I currently have in my office. They are consumer model samples.

[bell1962]

old monitors...no strips... no diabetics at this time either

[AdobeRN]

I have one in my office (TRuResult brand) but it is only used as my back up for my diabetics in case theirs fails or run out of strips. We do not test kids unless there is a doctors order/prescription and even then parents must provide the glucometer, strips & lancet device.

[schooldistrictnurse]

In my opinion, a finger stick is an invasive procedure and not within the scope of our practice without order/consent.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

While I think having a backup is a good idea, it seems that the parent of any child who would need to have his/her blood glucose checked, should provide their own glucometer to be kept in the nurse's office...

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

i used to purchase the sidekick from school health - loved it - 50 strips and a meter for like $35 and when you run out of strips you just chuck the whole thing!! Invaluable when your diabetic lovelies run out of strips or forget their meters. That being said, I have to say that i'm not going to just check the blood sugar willy-nilly of a student that passes out when i don't have orders to do so. We can't do this in a hospital, and we can't do this in a school either. I'd consider it too invasive of a procedure. B/P, pulse ox, sure, no problem.