This patient education video was developed as part of a CME initiative entitled “State of the Art Diabetes Management: Overcoming Barriers in the Use of Early Insulin Therapy.” AAPA members can earn up to two AAPA Category I CME credits by completing the activity at this site
Morning michael hi larry nice to see you nice to see you well today’s the day you know we’ve been talking about you’re starting insulin and today’s the day we’re going to teach you how to inject yourself i want to begin by laying any apprehension you may have i think you’re going to find this to be a painless procedure but you’ll tell me afterwards and and we’ll
Go from there there are two devices that we utilize to inject insulin insulin is injected into the body one is a insulin pen the other would be a traditional insulin syringe both can be utilized for virtually any kind of insulin regardless of what insulin we use or what device we use the technique that we utilize to inject is virtually identical today we’re going
To be using an insulin syringe to teach you it’s one of the simpler ways of doing it and i think you’re going to find this to be an incredibly painless experience in spite of any apprehension that you may have when we administer insulin there are three places that historically we’ve administered it one is in your arm the second is in your stomach and the third is
In your outer hip patients almost universally tell me for the first time when they’re doing this it’s much easier for them to do it in their stomach so i’d like to do that today if that’s okay with you okay sounds good okay so before we get started i want to talk to you about three words or three p’s specifically that we’re going to utilize one is you’re going to
Pull the skin you’re going to place the needle and then you’re going to push the plunger on the syringe to inject so those three p’s and we’ll walk you through it as we do that so if we can let’s start with lifting your shirt up and gently we’re going to just take an alcohol swab and a couple of inches to the side of your belly button just gently swab the area then
I’m going to take the cap off the syringe now you have an exposed needle so you want to be careful with that and you want to hold it with your index finger on the barrel between your second finger and thumb great now you’re going to pinch your skin pull it away you’re going to place the needle against it now stop right there and tell me do you feel any pain or do
You just feel a little bit of pressure you feel nothing at all nothing you know okay so if you were then to apply a little bit of pressure you’ll find that the syringe would go all the way in and then you inject push the plunger and then remove it and how did that feel well didn’t feel pain okay well i want you to remind me what are those three words that you use
There pull place and push okay now if you placed it and you felt any pain you just move it a quarter of an inch one way or another you’re likely right on the end of a nerve ending and if you move it it’s going to be completely painless at this point in time i want to make sure that you dispose of these in a sharps container appropriately you don’t want anybody
Else to get stuck okay you don’t we cap these you just put them right into the sharps container but i want to congratulate you you did a great job and you’re on your way to better controlling your blood sugars with insulin now and treating your diabetes thank you
Transcribed from video
Administering a Nearly Painless Insulin Injection By American Academy of PAs
