Using a Glucometer

A glucometer is a small meter. It reads your blood glucose, the sugar in your blood. A finger-stick check uses one tiny drop of blood.

Start every check with clean, dry hands. Wash them with soap and water, then dry them well. Leftover food on your skin can get in the way.

A big glucometer with a test strip sticking out of its side, next to a hand with a pointing finger. The check plays in order. First, clean, dry hands: water drops and soap bubbles on the hand. Next, one tiny drop of blood forms on the side of the fingertip. Last, the finger touches the drop onto the end of the strip, the strip turns red, the hand moves back to rest with no blood on it, and the meter screen shows 105 mg/dL with 5.8 mmol/L under it.

Put a test strip into the meter first. Then use the lancet, a small device, to prick the side of a fingertip. Touch the drop of blood to the strip. Wait for the reading on the screen.

The order stays the same every time you check.

A meter, a test strip and a lancet, where each tap shows what that part does.

Never share your lancet, not even with someone close. Each meter works a little differently. Follow the instructions that came with yours for the details.

Ask your care team to show you how to check, and how often.

Key takeaways

• Wash and dry your hands before each check.
• The strip goes in the meter, the lancet pricks a fingertip, then the drop goes on the strip.
• Your meter's instructions give the details for your exact model.

Try it

Read your meter's instructions, then walk through the steps with the meter in hand, without pricking.