What are the most commonly used insulins
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What are the most commonly used insulins?

What are the most commonly used insulins? There are quite a few more insulins available today than there were just a few years ago. For patients, this means more options and more flexibility, but it also increases the risk of confusion and potential errors. How does your facility perform medication reconciliation? Would you recognize the newer insulin products? Do you know how long each one lasts? The answers to these questions will help you better manage blood sugar perioperatively.

Today there are many different types of insulins to treat diabetes and with each passing year, more are added to the list. It’s important that each facility have a reference/educational tool to ensure each staff member is familiar with and can quickly recognize a patient on insulin upon admission. Knowing a patient is diabetic is not enough. Knowing when they last took their insulin and how long it will last, is important for perioperative blood sugar management.

Insulins are generally classified by how quickly they work, when they peak and how long they last. During our upcoming facility visits, we will provide an easy-to-use reference table that quicky breaks down the different types of insulins by classification and details their onset and duration of action. Below is a preview of the different types of insulins along with some examples.

Types of insulin:

  1. Rapid-acting insulin: This includes insulin aspart (Fiasp, NovoLog) insulin glulisine (Apidra) and insulin lispro (Admelog, Humalog).
  2. Short-acting (Regular) insulin: This includes Regular insulin (Humulin R, Novolin R).
  3. Intermediate-acting insulin: This includes NPH (Humulin N, Novolin N).
  4. Long-acting insulin: This includes detemir (Levemir), and glargine (Basaglar, Lantus).
  5. Ultra long-acting insulin: This includes degludec (Tresiba).
  6. Insulin mixes: This includes Novolog Mix 70/30, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog Mix 50/50, Humulin 70/30, Novolin 70/30.\

If you’re already one of our clients, we will provide this reference tool during our upcoming visits. If you have questions about insulins and how to navigate perioperative blood sugar monitoring or if you’re not a current client and would like to become one, please reach out to us and we will help you.

The Consultant Pharmacists at OctariusRx provide guidance on safe medication management, survey readiness and cost savings to ambulatory healthcare facilities/surgery centers, senior care facilities and pharmacies. We also help individual patients optimize their medications to improve their quality of life and save money. Contact us for assistance.

Any health, medical or drug information on the Web Site is for informational purposes only. This information is not intended to be used, and you should not use it, as a substitute for obtaining professional healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should always seek the advice of your doctor, a pharmacist or other qualified healthcare provider for professional healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment for any medical condition.