Posting this under the heading it deserves: Reading U-100 graduations, with a conversion table Everything below is what sits behind that.
A question about reading U-100 graduations that I think has a definite answer, unlike most of what I ask here.
I have the reasoning below and I am fairly confident about the direction. I am not confident about the size, and the size is what the decision turns on.
Sensible. I would want the same detail before I acted on it either.
Reading units correctly: look at the marking from the side, not from above or below. The bottom of the plunger tip is the reading. Parallax error (wrong angle) is a source of dosing error.
Caveat: everything above assumes the paperwork is what it says it is.
Thank you — that answers what I came here to find out.
Reading U-100 graduations is well covered in the tag pages, and the older discussions are better than the recent ones because they were argued out properly. Worth twenty minutes before adding to this one.
Agreed on all of that, and I have nothing to add to it.
Check what the graduations actually say rather than what you expect. A syringe marked in units and one marked in millilitres look similar at a glance and are not the same instrument.
I would rather be precise about what I do not know than vague about what I do.
Coming back to post #10, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.
A request rather than an answer: could whoever has the primary source for reading U-100 graduations post it? I have seen the claim three times this month and each version had lost a qualifier.
Picking up post #10: that is the part I would want checked first.
Speaking only to reading U-100 graduations as I have actually seen it, rather than as it is usually described: the effect is real, it is smaller than the thread suggests, and the variance between people is larger than the effect.
Nothing to add, except that this is the answer I would give if asked.
Reading U-100 graduations is one of those subjects where the general answer and the answer for a specific case diverge, and the thread will go in circles until someone says which one is being asked for.
Sharps containers are a legal requirement for disposal in several jurisdictions and a sensible precaution everywhere. A rigid sealed container is the minimum.
I have separated what I observed from what I concluded, which does not always happen.
Insulin syringe graduations: U-100 syringes are marked in units where 100 units = 1 mL. Always confirm your syringe is U-100. Confusion between insulin units and milligrams is the most common syringe error.
The variance between people here is larger than the effect being discussed.
On post #22 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.
U-100 means the barrel is graduated for a solution containing one hundred units of insulin per millilitre. For anything that is not insulin, the units are simply hundredths of a millilitre.
That is the practical version. The rigorous version is longer and says the same thing.
This follows post #22 rather than contradicting it.
What I can speak to on reading U-100 graduations is narrow, so I will keep it narrow rather than generalising from it. Beyond that boundary I do not know.
Understood. Thank you for being specific about the limits of it.
Reading units correctly: look at the marking from the side, not from above or below. The bottom of the plunger tip is the reading. Parallax error (wrong angle) is a source of dosing error.
Adding it in case it saves somebody the afternoon it cost me.
Coming back to post #28, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.
Reporting rather than recommending, on reading U-100 graduations. What happened is above. Whether it should have is a different question and not one I am qualified to answer.