Insulin Injection Techniques

Wash your hand

Remove the plastic cap

Roll Insulin bottle between your hands. If you are taking cloudy insulin, roll the bottle between your hands until its uniformly cloudy. Remember, never shake a bottle of insulin.

Wipe the top of the insulin bottle with a BD alcohol swab.

Draw air into the syringe equal to the dose of insulin you wish to take.

Insert the needle through the rubber stopper of the cloudy insulin vial, and inject the air into it. This will make it easier to draw back the insulin later. Then remove the needle without drawing up the cloudy insulin.

Pull the plunger back to the dose of regular insulin desired, inject the air into the clear insulin val.

Drawing the dose. This time, leave the needle in the bottle, turn the bottle upside down and slowly draw the desired dose of the regular insulin.

Drawing the dose. If you see air bubble in the syringe, draw up several more units of insulin and reinject the bubbles into the vial by pushing the plunger back to the desired dose. Now remove the needle from the vial.

Holding the bottle upside down, insert the needle through a rubber stopper of the cloudy insulin vial, and pull the plunger back to the marking that indicates the total dose of the insulin. Be sure you have the right number of units bacause you cannot push any insulin back into the vial.

Choose the injection area.

Clean the injection area with an alcohol swap. Start in the middle of the area and then moving in a circular motion clean the whole area. To reduce any stinging, be sure that the alcohol on the skin is completly dry before you inject.

Next gently pinch up the area of the skin between your thumb and the index and the middle fingers. Push the needle through the skin at 90 degree angle. Slowly push the plunger into inject he insulin.

Retracting the needle. Count till five before pulling the needle out. Release the pinch up and press an alchochol swab over the injected spot. Do not massage the area.