I have a question about Insulins....

[CABG patch kid, BSN, RN]

To me, the Novolog is ordered very unusually. Novolog is very fast acting (ie starts working within 20 min, out of the system within 4 hours), so I all ways have seen Novolog ordered as a sliding scale. Having only one dose regardless of blood sugar is very strange.

There is a doc I work with that often orders "x"units of Novolog before each meal, so a set number regardless of blood sugar isn't odd unless the patient isn't going to eat right afterwards. You would still check the sugar before giving it and hold the insulin if its too low, but I guess what I'm saying is that Novolog isn't just for sliding scale.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

There is a doc I work with that often orders "x"units of Novolog before each meal, so a set number regardless of blood sugar isn't odd unless the patient isn't going to eat right afterwards. You would still check the sugar before giving it and hold the insulin if its too low, but I guess what I'm saying is that Novolog isn't just for sliding scale.

Seeing how Novolog is fast acting, makes me wonder how effective it is if you are just getting the same dose all the time. At my facility,, almost all of my patients are on Humalog or Novolog sliding scales, in addition to other insulins.