Published
while doing clinicals in the icu i had the rn tell me that you should not inject more than 5u of insulin per injection site because the body cannot absorb more than that from one location. so for a patient that needs 15 units for example you would inject 5u in upper arm, 5u a few inches lower and 5u a few inches lower-all from the same needle and syringe.i had never heard this so i asked him if he was taught this in nursing school. he said no but his brother who is an np at a diabetes clinic teaches it to all his patients. i have scoured the internet for research to back this up but have not come across anything.
has anyone heard this before? do you believe its true? is there research to back it up?
this is nuts.
i've given a lot of insulin. i've given myself a lot of insulin...... don't listen to this. talk to your instructor.
i've given myself up to 96 units of lantus at one fell swoop. his brother isn't who you answer to, period. there is no way i'd be doing 12 shots for my current lantus dose....you'd run out of sites to rotate before getting back to the same ones.
i need to shut up now, because i'm getting perilously close to using "wash-my-mouth-out-with-soap" language
Never heard of that, and I'm in school now. The one thing they stress all of the time is that we give insulin in the abdomen because it absorbs the fastest from that site. If you want slower absorption use the extremities, but I haven't really seen it that much in my (limited) experience in the hospital.
Now we do have some of the endocrinologists order the larger doses of lantus to be given as split doses, but it is clearly ordered that way.
As in...Lantus 110 units subcut, to be given as 55 units in two divided injections in separate sites for a total for a total of 110 units.
Considering that our insulin pens are single use only, this requires a new needle for each injection, as the safety lock engages after each injection.
This is the only time I divide a dose, as I have an order to do so.
utah23LPN
5 Posts
While doing clinicals in the ICU I had the RN tell me that you should not inject more than 5u of insulin per injection site because the body cannot absorb more than that from one location. So for a patient that needs 15 units for example you would inject 5u in upper arm, 5u a few inches lower and 5u a few inches lower-all from the same needle and syringe.
I had never heard this so I asked him if he was taught this in nursing school. He said no but his brother who is an NP at a diabetes clinic teaches it to all his patients. I have scoured the internet for research to back this up but have not come across anything.
Has anyone heard this before? Do you believe its true? Is there research to back it up?