How to Use a Glucometer
Video transcription
Hi, my name's Kayti Brosnan. I'm a registered nurse here in Austin, Texas, and today, I'm going to tell you how to use a glucometer. So we're going to talk about the most commonly used glucometers that are at home. There's a couple of components that they all have, and I'm just going to kind of walk through those. So what you want to do is have all of your supplies ready. If you are getting a new bottle of test strips, you want to make sure that your monitor is coded with the code on the test strips. So that's important to do when you turn your monitor on. You're going to take the lancet, which has the needle in it. Insert it into the plunger, and you're going to adjust the height of what you prefer for when the...you know, the height that the needle is going to hit your skin, piercing the skin, and drawing the blood. So you know, first, you're going to wipe off your finger with alcohol, use the plunger, and you're going to draw blood with that. Then you're going to wipe away the first drop of blood, and you're going to gently squeeze the finger again. Using the test strip that you have already made sure matched with the monitor that it's reading it correctly that's already insert...inserted into your monitor. You're going to put the droplet of blood into the correct place on that little test strip. Then you're going to wait. The test strip is going to be read by the monitor, and it's going to deliver the information or it's going to deliver your blood sugar levels. And that's the basic way to use a glucometer at home.