Plan on purchasing a Glucose Meter? Check out these steps on how to choose the best equipment.
A person with diabetes must understand the types of equipment he or she needs in keeping track of his/her blood sugar. One essential device used to determine a diabetic’s blood sugar level is the Glucose Meter.
Check the market and you’ll discover a long list of various manufacturers of glucose meters. Trying to choose which one to use might be baffling. How do you know which glucose meter is better? What are the aspects to take note before buying your glucos meter?
How to Choose the Best Glucose Meter
Ask your doctor. Physicians have varying preferences with regards to the kinds of glucose meters. Some doctors may favor a glucose meter that automatically records blood glucose readings in a memory card. Blood sugar levels and other information can easily be downloaded in a computer instead of having the patient record each reading manually. This lets your doctor download the resulted reading to keep track of the progress in a patient's blood sugar levels. Since you will be closely cooperating with your doctor, it is far better to use a glucose meter that 100% compatible with your doctor's computer systems.
Be brand conscious. Remember that different manufacturers design their own testing strips that particularly complement their brand's glucose meter. If you're concerned about the price of buying a new meter, you'll be glad to know that many manufacturers are generally distributing free meters.
Having said that, you may be forced into purchasing the company's testing strips because each maker creates a distinct strip to match each blood glucose meter. Remember, using testing strips that are not compatible with your glucose meter can result to inaccurate blood sugar readings.
Regardless of whether you need to purchase testing strips each year should never be a big issue. As we pointed out at the beginning of this article, the cost is not the main issue. What matters most is that the diabetic's blood sugar levels are constantly kept in check.
Consider too the capacity of memory of a blood glucose meter. Each time a test is performed, the meter should be recording the precise date and output of the tests. The resulted readings need to be recorded precisely. The recommended memory capacity of a blood glucose meter should be at least 100 glucose tests or higher. Nevertheless, there is no hard rule about it.
In conclusion, the glucose meter that you should choose must have the capacity to store test results and other information so that it can be downloadable into a computer or another similar management system.
