Self‐monitoring of blood glucose

Abstract

A retrospective survey was carried out on all patients within the city of Wollongong who had obtained a home glucose meter in the two-year period from July 1981 to June 1983. From the responses, we found that 49% of patients were not using their meter in an optimal way. Between these patients and those who made optimal use of their meter, the only significant difference was that the former were less likely to have had a machine on loan before purchase. The high percentage of patients making less than optimal use of their home glucose meter indicates a need to review the manner in which these machines are obtained.