Ideas That Work: Forms That Work

Our blood glucose logs include key reminders for our staff.

• Check expiration dates. Each day we test a patient, we must test the blood sugar monitor to ensure the strips and solutions have not expired. A box of test strips or a bottle of control solutions expire 90 days after they're opened. Problem is, many staff aren't familiar with this 90-day shelf life. The first thing staff sees when filling out our log is big, bold lettering that says: "do not use any remaining strips 90 days after opening the bottle" and "control solutions expire after 90 days." They can see when the strips and solution were opened and replace if necessary.
• Clean the monitor. On a separate log, we record the results of a patient's pre-op blood glucose reading. In addition to the usual info — patient label, sugar reading, if treatment is recommended — we also designated a spot on the results log for our nurse to indicate if she cleaned the monitor with a disinfectant wipe after use.

You can download a PDF of our blood glucose testing log at outpatientsurgery.net/forms.

Amy Eller
Core Surgery Center
Lyndhurst, N.J.
[email protected]