What you should know about choosing a blood glucose meter
Tips of the Voronezh CSM
Glucose meters are used to monitor glucose by diabetics. When used correctly, the device is accurate and can last a long time. Specialists of CSM Rosstandart in the Voronezh region, who regularly perform verification of household diagnostic devices, told about how to choose a high-quality glucose meter, not to make a mistake with the purchase of test strips, as well as about the correct storage of the device.
What should I pay attention to when choosing a blood glucose meter?
1. Most modern glucose meters for home use determine the sugar level by capillary blood, however, some models are configured for whole blood and capillary blood plasma. Therefore, when buying a blood glucose meter, it is important to determine the necessary type of research.
2. It is worth making sure that the device has a symbol of the type (type, model), the designation of the standard (GOST R ISO 15197-2015, GOST 20790-93) or technical specifications for the product.
3. It should be convenient for older people to hold a blood glucose meter in their hand, so it should be large enough, and the screen should be large and readable.
4. Each device manufactured from the factory must undergo initial verification. In the future, it must be verified every 3 years.
How to choose test strips?
The device will not be able to work without sensory test strips, on which a drop of blood is applied for analysis. Modern devices for determining sugar work according to the electrochemical principle, that is, glucose passes into an electric current. To do this, platinum and silver electrodes are used in the strips.
When buying a device, it is important to check the expiration date of the test strips. With proper storage, it is about 2 years. After opening the tube, the strips should be used for 3-6 months. If there are several packages with test strips, it is better to start with an older one. The test strips for the glucose meter contain a mixture of chemical reagents, and their activity decreases over time. Expired strips may overestimate or underestimate the value of the sugar level. It is dangerous to believe such data, since the correction of diet, dose and medication regimen depend on the values.
The device may be wrong if:
– store a pencil case with consumables on the windowsill or near the battery;
– loosely close the lid of the packaging with strips;
– use consumables with expired shelf life;
– do not monitor the cleanliness of the contact holes for inserting consumables;
– do not monitor compliance with the compliance of the device code with the code on the pencil case with stripes;
– carry out measurements in conditions that do not comply with the instructions (the permissible temperature range is from +10 to +45 ° C);
– to take blood from frozen fingers (there will be an increased concentration of glucose in the capillary blood).
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