How to choose the injection site?
Injection sites in order of rapid absorption are the abdomen (except around the umbilicus), upper arm deltoid, inner and outer thighs, and buttocks.
For short-acting insulin, preference is given to the abdomen, and for long-acting insulin (given at bedtime), preference is given to the buttocks.
Injecting at the same site for a long period of time can reduce the local tissue’s ability to absorb insulin. Once subcutaneous lipodystrophy occurs, it can affect insulin absorption, so care should be taken to rotate injection sites:
- Left-right rotation: alternately from the left to the right side (injection on the left inner leg at 7:00 on day 1 and on the right inner leg at 7:00 on day 2);
- Rotation of different areas of the same injection site: inject 2 cm from the last injection site.
Injection method
It should be ensured that insulin is injected into the subcutaneous tissue.
Pre-operation preparation
- Determine meal times, ensuring that meals are taken within 30 minutes. Remove insulin from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to injection and allow the solution to approach room temperature before injection.
- Wash hands, prepare ethanol cotton balls, and injection set.
- Check insulin dosage form again.
- Carefully observe the appearance of insulin: short-acting insulin is a colorless and transparent liquid, medium-acting, long-acting and mixed insulin is a uniform-looking suspension, which is milky white after gently shaking.
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Cautions for using insulin syringes
- If you inject medium-acting or long-acting insulin, you should put the vial flat in your hand, hold the vial with both hands and roll it back and forth about ten times to mix the medicine inside the vial well.
- Before injecting insulin, disinfect the stopper with an ethanol cotton ball.
- Inject an amount of air equal to the amount of insulin required into the bottle with a syringe.
- Turn the vial upside down with your left hand and use your right hand to draw the required amount of insulin.
- When mixing two doses of insulin by yourself, you must draw short-acting insulin first and then medium-acting or long-acting insulin. If you mix medium-acting or long-acting insulin into short-acting insulin, the bottle of insulin will not be reused.
- Drain the air from the syringe.
- After selecting the injection site, disinfect the skin with an ethanol cotton ball.
- When the ethanol is dry, pinch up the skin at the injection site with the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and with the other hand, pierce half of the needle at a 45° angle into the injection site quickly, push in the solution, then relax the pinched skin and pull out the needle after it has been under the skin for 10 seconds.
- Press with a dry cotton ball, do not massage the injection site.