New rapid acting Insulin: Apidra

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Hi everyone...just kinda wanted to get your opinions on this....I work for an Endocrinology practice....just got our samples of the new rapid acting insulin Apidra...put out by Aventis...same people who make Lantus...

Does anyone else see a HUGE med error waiting to happen here?

Lantus is made in a 10ml vial, just like all insulins, but they made the vial taller and skinney-er than regular insulins because Lantus is clear...all other long-acting insulins are cloudy....so to avoid med errors, they put it in different bottles.... The new rapid acting Apidra (I guess its down to 5 min action rather than 15-30 with Novolog and such...) but they put it in the EXACT same vial as Lantus! The only difference is the label...Lantus is purple lettering, Apidra has black lettering.

We take care of so many brittle diabetics at the office..so many on TID regular injections premeals with Lantus at night....Once we get the OK to start prescribing it, I fear I'll get that call that says "I took my 34U before lunch, and now my BS is 400!" It happens all the time now with patients who don't pay attention to the bottle differences as they are now!

What do you think? Should they put the new Apidra insulin in the regular vials the rest of em are in? We already griped about it to our drug rep..lol

Jules

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