In this diabetes education video, learn the best practices for administering insulin with a syringe. This video isn’t meant to replace professional medical advice.
Hi my name is joyce graves diabetes educator with fada care the topic of this video is to show you how to draw up and inject insulin using a vial and syringe oftentimes insulin injections are necessary as a part of diabetes management the insulin that is injected is a synthetic hormone that either substitutes or supplements the insulin that your pancreas is unable to
Keep up with in controlling blood sugar levels there are different types of insulin some that are long-acting that may be lasts for about 24 hours others that are fast or short-acting that have to be taken before meals and there are some that are a combination of both types some insulins are clear others are cloudy and an important step that you need to know prior
To giving your injection is that if you are using a cloudy insulin it has to be mixed evenly so that you’re getting the right concentration it is also important for you to know what type of insulin you’re on what the dose is and also when and how often to take it so storage of insulin depending on whether it’s been opened or not if your insulin has been unopened it
Can be stored in the refrigerator but once you open it it can be left at room temperature but check with your instructions because even once it’s opened it does have an expiration date and different types of insulin have different expiration dates so to prepare for the injection you first want to make sure that your hands are clean and then get your supplies ready
And what you’ll need is your insulin vial you’ll need an alcohol swab or you can choose to use rubbing alcohol with cotton balls and then you’ll need a specific syringe that is meant for insulin use now there are different sizes of of insulin syringes this one holds up to 30 you this one 50 this one 100 units so depending on the amount of insulin that you’re going
To take you want to make sure that you have the right syringe then if you’re using a cloudy insulin as i mentioned you want to make sure that it’s mixed well so usually a good way to do that is to turn your bottle on its side and just gently roll it back and forth a few times to make sure again that it’s evenly mixed and you don’t want to shake it too much because
It’s more likely that you’ll cause bubbles to form on the inside of the the vial and then more likely to draw bubbles into the syringe so we’ll then take the alcohol swab and wipe off the top of that bottle and take off you’ve got two caps on here one a back cap that covers the plunger and the top cap that covers the needle your next step and a very important step
Is that you want to draw up the air into the syringe that matches the amount of insulin that you’re going to take so let’s practice with 15 units so i will draw air into the syringe i measure the tip of that plunger with a marker that’s that says 15 and then taking that needle and pushing it through the rubber stopper of the insulin vial you’ll push that air into
The bottle again that just makes it easier to draw your insulin out then at this point you have to turn that bottle upside down and somewhat hold the vial and your syringe with one hand so that you have this hand free to pull back on the plunger now if you notice that you’re pulling air bubbles into that just give it a good push back in and usually that will clear
It of any air but if it continues to you continue to pull air again continue to do that step on till as you pull it slowly out you don’t see any air bubbles in the syringe now air bubbles take up space you know they’re not going to hurt you but you wouldn’t be getting the right amount of insulin so once i’ve seen that i don’t have any air bubbles again i line the
Tip of that plunger up to the 15 and then you pull your needle out this will seal itself now you’re ready for your injection typically for best absorption of the abdomen is a good place to choose and i’m going to use this as a demonstration so depending on the amount of fatty tissue you have on your body you may choose to pull up a fold of skin or pinch up a fold
Otherwise it’s not necessary and then take your needle go straight in slowly push that insulin in till it’s you’ve pushed the plunger all the way in and then wait for about 10 seconds before you pull that needle out so that it allows that insulin to absorb after the 10 seconds pull it straight out if you notice a little seepage or bleeding just apply a little
Light pressure but you don’t want to rub it too vigorously because that can cause that insulin to absorb faster than what it’s meant to as far as of this disposal of needles don’t bother with putting a cap back on you’re best to just throw the whole syringe into a specially marked sharps container or a store-bought container that you can get at most pharmacies or
Drug stores if you’re going to make your own it’s recommended that it be a heavy plastic bleach bottle or detergent bottle with a screw cap and then label it with sharps and then there are certain sharps collection stations that you can drop it off at once it gets filled up so this concludes my video on drawing up and directing insulin with a vial and syringe if
You have any additional questions or would like more information on the management of diabetes please contact one of our many diabetes educators within theta care we would be happy to help you you
Transcribed from video
How to Administer Insulin with Syringe By ThedaCare
