Nurse Teaching on Route of Insulin Administration

Nurse educated the patient and on route of insulin administration as follows:

  1. Insulin is administered into the less sensitive layer of fatty tissue, just underneath the skin (subcutaneous fat). Injecting insulin into the fat layer beneath the skin can help absorption of insulin into the blood stream at a desired and consistent rate.
  2. To facilitate insulin administration into the subcutaneous fat, insulin is administered via insulin syringe, insulin pen, or insulin infusion. The syringes/needles used for insulin administration are different from the syringes/needles used for intramuscular/intravenous administration of many other medications. The insulin syringes are smaller, leaner, and marked in units in comparison to the intramuscular/intravenous syringes that are marked in milliliters with longer and thicker needles.
  3. Do not use the intramuscular/intravenous syringe for insulin administration. This can result in administration of wrong dose of insulin. Also, administering insulin deep into the muscle or directly into the vein, using the intramuscular/intravenous syringe, can lead to rapid absorption and action of insulin. This can contribute to quicker and severe lowering of blood sugars leading to impaired blood sugar regulation, compromised therapeutic benefit of insulin administration, and hypoglycemic emergency.
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