Re: injectibles

March 24, 2010

Wow, all I can say is ASK. Seriously. There is no shame in not knowing. I bet

someone at your work could answer all those questions in under 30 mins. You know

the stuff you dodge will come to haunt you on the busiest/craziest day.

Nan

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

injectibles

I have never understood injectibles. Someone gets a script for insulin and I

have to type it up so I usually avoid it and let someone else get it. I just

dont understand how its done. One vial is equal to 10, 10units? So if they use

xx amt tid, then I am not sure how to calculate how long it will last. Or if

the script says QS for 3 mts I am stumped. I dont want to feel stupid, so I

dont ask at work. Also, byetta pens, never have opened a pkg to see what is

in there. Do they use one pen over and over? What about the insulin pens equal

to 15units. Or are they 15 units? I feel a little stupid for asking these

questions, but they have puzzled me for so long that I just dont know where to

ask. Off to work now, hoping to have some answers here from this great site,

when I get home late tonite.

thanks all!

March 25, 2010

For most insulins that are in 10ml vials, if you look at the strength,

you'll often see it say 100units/ml. Meaning that if there are 100 units

per ml and there are 10 ml's, then the whole vile has 1000 units. (100 *

10). So if someone is using 5 units three times a day, then they are using

15 units a day, so a 10ml vial (which = 1000 units) would last approx 66

days (1000 / 15). But many insulin products state that once you open it,

it's only good for # of days. Those # are generally on the packages.

Some of the insulin pens that are already filled are a box of 5 pens with

each pen having 3 ml's of insulin in it, thus having 15 ml's of insulin in

the box. For figuring out the days supply from that, see above paragraph.

Some of the newer diabetic injectibles have their strengths listed a little

differently.

For Byetta, each pen holds 60 doses of whatever strength it is listed at,

either 5mcg or 10mcg. So the Byetta 5mcg has 60 doses of 5mcg. The Byetta

10mcg has 60 doses of 10mcg. Byetta is usually dosed twice a day.

Generally 1 Byetta pen is a 30 day supply.

Yes, with pens and penfills, they do use the same pen over. But the

pen-needle that goes on the end is supposed to be changed out before each

use, although not everyone does that.

Hopefully this makes sense.

But you do need to ask those you work with if you aren't sure! Otherwise,

you can be setting yourself, them, and the patients up for an error.

And as far as the QS for 3 months, it just means to provide a supply of the

medication that will last the patient for 3 months.

Della

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 7:48 AM, Beth <ebeth1118@...> wrote:

> I have never understood injectibles. Someone gets a script for insulin and

> I have to type it up so I usually avoid it and let someone else get it. I

> just dont understand how its done. One vial is equal to 10, 10units? So if

> they use xx amt tid, then I am not sure how to calculate how long it will

> last. Or if the script says QS for 3 mts I am stumped. I dont want to

> feel stupid, so I dont ask at work. Also, byetta pens, never have opened

> a pkg to see what is in there. Do they use one pen over and over? What

> about the insulin pens equal to 15units. Or are they 15 units? I feel a

> little stupid for asking these questions, but they have puzzled me for so

> long that I just dont know where to ask. Off to work now, hoping to have

> some answers here from this great site, when I get home late tonite.

>

> thanks all!

>

March 25, 2010

Dear All, especially Ms Beth <ebeth1118@...>

FYI: Ms Della is a pharmacist who has also been a technician. She is in Texas.

I am veryhonored to have her as a 'resident' pharmacist who monitors the site

and comes to my aid or the aid of the site as she deems necessary and yet allows

the techs to

discuss without being overpowering. I am so glad to have her here.

Thank you Della for picking this " one " up.

Respectfully to all,

Jeanetta Mastron CPhT BS

Founder/Owner