Teaching New Peds Diabetics in Hospital

[Vicki_RN]

Our hospital is asking us to go directly to insulin pens for our newly diagnosed peds diabetics, and getting rid of insulin vials (for pt safety). This would mean not teaching syringe/vial insulin inpatient anymore. Does anyone else have experience waiting until outpatient to teach syringe/vial method of injection for peds pts?

[dansingrn]

At our pediatric hospital, we are also switching to pens only at diagnosis. There are many reasons why this is a good idea.

First, many patients tend to never need syringe/vial education at all. Rapid acting insulins (Humalog, Novolog) and long acting (Lantus, Levemir) all come in pens. A couple of the products can even dial doses in half units. Many kids have several caregivers (parents, grandparents, babysitters, daycare workers, school personnel) who need to give or supervise insulin administration. It is much easier to teach a child to accurately dial a dose on the pen than to teach accurately drawing up into a syringe. It is also easier to teach all those caregivers!

Also, another plus for the pen is that they come in a 5 pack of either disposable pens or cartridges for non-disposable pens. This is much cheaper for families. For example, a 1000 unit vial of insulin needs to be discarded after 30 days of use, usually wasting many units. Pens only have 300 units in each, so there is much less waste after 30 days. Also, because they are packed 5 to a box, a child can have one pen at home, one at school, and one at the after-school babysitter if they need to. With the vials, insurance will usually only pay for the one vial, which then needs to be transported with the patient everywhere he goes. Most schools don't allow kids to carry the insulin on the bus, and even if they do, the child has to remember it every single time they come to and leave the school.

Hope this helps!