Insulin verification

[metalmom]

What is the protocol for verifying insulin with another licensed person? Is it standard or does it depend on the facility? I'm in the long-time habit of verifying as little as 2 units and I don't plan on changing my game. Most nurses that I work with seem to be on the same page but some think I'm crazy. Not verifying would have landed you out of the nursing program.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

It depends on the facility and the particular nurse sometimes. My facility doesnt require it,, but good nursing practice prompts most nurses to have another set of eyes look it over also.

[BJLynn]

Where I work, it would most times be impossible to have another nurse verify insulin. When I work the "diabetic" floor, most times I am the only nurse on that floor (66 residents on that floor in a large multi-story residential type home for DD). But when there is another nurse on the floor with me, we generally do have the other one "eyeball" the syringe and confirm the order generally.

[ONSnrs]

The hospital that I work for that does not scan meds requires the signature of yourself and a 2nd RN to verify dose, type and expiration date. The other hospital that I work for in town scans all meds for accuracy and they are more flexible about the dbl checks leaving it to the discretion of the RN

[Ginger35]

Hummm...It is always good to have another set of eyes looking to verify the dose. However, this seems to be one of those inconsistent "rules" in nursing.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when I'm IV pushing cardiac meds in the ER which will have a more immediate effect on the patient clinically - nobody is double checking my order. Though I am triple checking to make sure that all of the "R's" are being followed. However, make sure the insulin is double checked....... One would *think* that the priority would be atleast equally weighted when it comes to verifying to prevent med errors, but it isn't.... Just my observation & thoughts

[Hoozdo, ADN]

I haven't been required to check insulin amounts since I was in school. If I have an outragous amount ordered, I investigate why. I don't have the luxury of having another nurse available to double check insulin with usually.

As the previous poster mentioned, vasoactive orders are not required to be double checked and I wouldn't mind if that was required. Neither are emergency intubation drugs, heparin drips, or narcotic drips.

Personally, my greatest concern is getting someone to actually watch me waste IV narcotics and witness that. Most of the time I just have to trust someone that SAID they wasted and witness that I watched and visa versa!

[evans_c1]

my facility has no policy on checking insulin w/ another nurse. I have honestly never heard of that! im out of the loop i guess...like another poster said, i dont have that luxury. we are only mainly concerned w/ heparin and high risk meds. .I knwo..insulin could be that but you know what i mean

[ginger58, ASN, RN]

We require a double check which is sometimes very time consuming because no one is around! We have a separate sheet for blood sugars, the amount of insulin, site and a cosignature.

[bigmona]

our hospital has a policy to double check insulins, but most people don't.

i went to ask a nurse to double check my insulin, and she scowled and told me she thought it was insulting. unfortunately, i think a lot of people have that attitude.

[Agnus]

this is the first facility where we are actually required to have a double signature for insulin, heparin, and Lovenox.

Any place else I worked we occasionally double checked insulin on occasion but it was done at an individual nurse's discretion and usually not double signature.

A with a few drugs if there were a serious danger of an error I would ask the other nurse to sign after checking me. Never Lovenox though.