- Blood glucose monitors are devices that are used to measure the concentration of glucose within a person's blood. Along with the term blood glucose this reading is also often referred to as blood sugar. Most basic blood glucose monitors have three separate parts that are required for them to work properly: a lancer, a test strip and the meter itself. In most cases a person will be prescribed a blood glucose meter along with test strips and lancets, often at very little cost, by their medical doctor.
- In order to use a blood glucose meter you must first replace the lancet in the lancer with a fresh sterile lancet. This should be done each time before the lancer is used in order to avoid infection. Next, using the lancet, the skin must be pierced (the location of the test site varies depending on the model of lancer that is used) and a drop of blood brought to the surface of the skin. A fresh test strip must be placed within the meter and the drop of blood must be touched to the opening in the test strip. After several moments the blood glucose reading will be displayed by the meter.
- Blood glucose monitors measure the amount of sugar in a sample of blood using a complex chemical process. Within the test strip the blood is mixed with glucose oxidase, which reacts with the glucose in the blood sample to create gluconic acid. Another chemical within the test strip, called ferricyanide, then reacts with the gluconic acid to create ferrocyanide. The electrode within the test strip then runs a current through the blood sample and the ferrocyanide influences this current in such a way that the concentration of blood glucose within the sample can be accurately measured within a fair margin of error.
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