Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Obtain A Drop Of Blood?

Generic
Thoroughly wash and dry your hands then massage a finger to encourage blood flow. Avoid using your index finger or thumb as these are the digits you use most frequently. Prick the side of the finger with a finger pricker. Press gently to encourage a small drop of blood to form.

How Do I Know If I've Inserted The Test Strip Correctly?

Accu-Chek Active and Accu-Chek Advantage:
When you push the test strip into the test strip guide you should hear it click into place and the display will show a test strip with a drop of blood to signal that the meter is ready for testing. If E-1 or E-9 is displayed repeat the test with a new test strip, ensuring that the strip is inserted into the meter as fully as possible.

Accu-Chek Compact:
Turn the meter off. Slide the button on the right hand side of the meter and the drum compartment will open. To exchange the drum, tip the meter and the old drum will fall out. Insert the new drum, close the drum compartment and the meter will automatically move the drum and read the code. A small dot will appear in the small window on the back of the meter to indicate the new 17-strip drum.

How Do I Best Apply A Drop Of Blood To The Strip?

Accu-Chek Aviva:
With your hand facing downwards, gently squeeze your finger to assist the flow of blood. Touch the drop to the front edge of the yellow window of the test strip. Do not put blood on the top of the test strip. When you see flash you have enough blood in the test strip. If you applied blood but do not see the flashing you may reapply more blood within five seconds.

Accu-Chek Advantage:
After obtaining a drop of blood (see above), touch and hold the drop of blood to the edge of the strip within the curve. Bring the finger and the strip together in a way that is most comfortable for you.

IMPORTANT: IF you see any yellow in the yellow window after you have applied the initial drop of blood, a second drop of blood may be applied to the edg of the test strip within 15 seconds of the first drop.

Accu-Chek Active:
After obtaining a drop of blood (see above), apply the drop of blood to the middle of the orange-coloured, square area. Do not spread the blood, the meter will show you if you need to apply more.

Accu-Chek Compact:
After obtaining a drop of blood (see above) turn the meter on and a test strip will advance. Wait until the flashing hand and blood drop symbols appear. Tilt the meter so the test strip points down at a slight angle and gently touch the front edge of the test strip against the blood. The strip will draw up the blood, the meter will beep and the test will begin.

How Do I Know If I Adequately Dosed The Strip?

Accu-Chek Active:
The meter will display Err if too little blood was applied.

Accu-Chek Compact:
The meter will display the error message 000 if too little blood has been applied.

Accu-Chek Advantage:
The Yellow Window will be filled completely when dosed correctly. Additionally, the strip icon and the word error will appear on the meter screen.

How Should I Store My Blood Glucose Meter?

Generic:
Ensure that your meter is kept at temperatures between –40 C and +70 C to avoid damage. Relative humidity must be below 85% and storage near electro-magnetic fields (found near mobile telephones, microwave ovens etc) should be avoided.

How Should I Store My Strips?

Generic:
Test strips should be kept out of very cold or hot conditions. The test strip container should be kept closed at all times since it contains a drying agent which will not work if exposed to the air.

How Do I Clean My Blood Glucose Meter And How Often?

Generic:
Clean you meter whenever it looks dirty and whenever you open a new pack of test strips – at least every 2 months.

Slide off the test strip guide and clean it with cold water. You can then wipe it with 70% alcohol briefly and allow it to dry thoroughly.

Wipe the measurements optic components with a soft lint-free cloth and /or a cotton swab which can be moist but not wet. Do not let moisture get into the meter itself.

When all components are dry slide the test strip guide back into the meter.

What Are Quality Control Check and When/How Should I Do Them?

You should carry out a quality control test:

• When you open a new pack of test strips.
• After you have replaced the batteries.
• If your meter flashes “CTRL”, indicating that a quality control test is required.
• After you have cleaned your meter.
• If your blood test does not agree with how you feel.

Accu-Chek Advantage:
Insert Chek strip (Chek side up) into meter. The meter runs inetrnal tests and should then display OK and a tick. If this doesn not appear switch off the mtere and try again.

(Note: If the OK still does not appear call the Accu-Chek Customer Careline as the meter has a fault.)

Remove the Chek strip from the meter and, within 30 seconds, insert a test strip Yellow Window facing up. The test strip symbol will stop flashing and a blood drop will flash. Hold the control bottle horizontally with the tip pointed directly at the right edge of the strip. Squeeze one drop onto the strip and ensure that the Yellow Window is filled.

The control result will appear after the box symbol has stopped rotating. If the result is acceptable OK will flash on the screen. If the result is outside the acceptable range shown on the side of the test strip vial, ‘error’ a tick and the result will flash on the screen.

Remove the test strip and discard. Turn the meter off.

Accu-Chek Active:
Insert a test strip as usual and wait for the code number to be displayed. This needs to be the same as the number printed on the test strip pack. If it is not, check that you have inserted the coding chip from the new pack of test strips. Check that the correct date and time are shown.

Once the meter beeps and shows the flashing blood drop symbol press the S button once. In the display you will see the hourglass symbol along with a control test flag (a bottle with the letter C). You can insert the flag here or after your test.

Apply one drop of the control solution to the application are of the test strip. Once you have the test result you can check whether it is in the permitted range or not. If it is, carry out a visual plausibility test within 30-60 seconds after the control solution was applied.

Do this by comparing the circular control window in the back of the test strip to the label of the test strip container. The colours should be a close match.

If the result is outside the permitted range perform a second test. If the second result is outside the range, call the Accu-Chek Customer Careline.

Accu-Chek Compact:
Press the ON/OFF button. The meter turns on and automatically advances a test strip.

Press the SET button. “CTRL” appears in the display (simultaneously with the hand symbol) and is automatically stored along with the result, to flag it in memory as a control test result.

Wait for the hand symbol and the blood drop to flash in the display before you apply control solution.

Take a bottle of control solution and hold the dropper tip downwards until a hanging drop forms at its end. Gently touch the drop of control solution against the front edge of the test strip near the black notch until the meter beeps and appears in the display.

The meter runs a test, then displays the result and “CTRL”. Refer to the table on the label of the vial the drum came in and determine if the value within the expected range. If the result is outside this range, run another quality control check. If the result of the second test is outside the expected range as well, contact our Accu-Chek Customer Careline.

How Do I Code My Blood Glucose Meter?

First check that the three digit code printed on the chip matches the code [printed on the label of the test strip container. Turn the meter off. Slide the coding chip from the new pack of test strips into the slot on the side of the meter. Make sure that the chip is pushed in fully.

What Happens If I Use Expired Strips?

Accu-Chek Active:
The E-5 error message will show.

Accu-Chek Advantage:
The glucose control results will not be in the acceptable range.

Accu-Chek Compact:
A display message showing a drum and 24-12 will show.

How Often Should I Test My Blood Sugar?

You should test your blood sugar level as often as your diabetes nurse recommends.

What's The Difference Between HbA1c And Blood Sugar?

Blood sugar, also called glucose, is a simple sugar obtained from breakdown of carbohydrates in food. When this is tested the result is an instant reflection of current blood sugar levels. The HbA1c test is a type of blood glucose test that shows blood glucose levels over a longer period of time - it shows the control a patient has had over a number of weeks or months.

What Are Ketones And Why Should I Test For Them?

Ketones are the waste products produced when fatty acids are broken down for energy. Toxic ketone levels can build up and spill into urine. This is a sign that your diabetes is not well controlled - perhaps because of tiredness and fatigue - and you will feel increasingly unwell.