Insulin safety for people who inject with a 'pen'

[Northerner]

With millions of Americans suffering from diabetes, there?s been tremendous growth in the use of insulin. For convenience, many insulin dependent diabetics carry their insulin in a prefilled syringe available from drug manufacturers. The device is called an insulin pen because it sort of looks like a pen and can be carried in your pocket. But it?s actually a sophisticated device designed for multiple injections of insulin until the cartridge within the pen needs to be replaced.

Unfortunately, not every insulin dependent patient knows how to use their pen in the proper way and they sometimes place themselves at dangerous risk of complications. We received an interesting report from a certified diabetes educator/RN about a patient who suffered an insulin overdose by misreading the amount dialed. With some of the most popular insulin pens now in use, you have to turn a dose selector dial to set the pen to deliver the prescribed dose. The dose then appears in a little built-in window on the pen. Once you set the dose you inject the pen?s needle into your skin and push a button to release the dose. In the picture below you can see what that looks like where the insulin dose that has been dialed is 46 units.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Insulin-safety-for-people-who-inject-with-a-pen.html

I don't really understand what the numbers to the right indicate and it's not explained - previous dose indicator, perhaps?

 

[DeusXM]

The numbers to the right don't indicate anything. On some pens (such as the old Novopen 3), the dose numbers are printed directly onto the spindle part that unscrews. So when you dial up the dose and the spindle extends out of the pen, you'll see those printed numbers on it - you can see how they spiral around. The important number is the one in the window with the arrow pointing to it.

 

[Vicsetter]

Some people shouldn't be allowed out!
It's all explained in the patient leaflet that comes with the pack of pens, can these people operate a TV, kettle or what?

(not you Alan).

 

[Northerner]

The numbers to the right don't indicate anything. On some pens (such as the old Novopen 3), the dose numbers are printed directly onto the spindle part that unscrews. So when you dial up the dose and the spindle extends out of the pen, you'll see those printed numbers on it - you can see how they spiral around. The important number is the one in the window with the arrow pointing to it.

Well I never! This confused me as I have been using a novopen 3 for the past 4 years and have never noticed this, so I went to get my old pen (now using the Echo) and dialled up a dose. The reason why I never noticed it? Because I never had to dial a dose above 18 units - the numbers only start to appear on the spindle when you reach 20 units! 😱🙄

 

[margie]

Some people shouldn't be allowed out!
It's all explained in the patient leaflet that comes with the pack of pens, can these people operate a TV, kettle or what?

(not you Alan).

There are still some people who are intelligent but who have poor reading skills. What this demonstrates is that the patient should be assessed and the HCP should check that they can use the pens - by asking them to demonstrate a task.

I remember when I first started injecting - I sometimes managed to dial a dose when taking the top off the pen - then I would wonder if I had not injected the full amount earlier.