If you are drawing up insulin under pressure, what is the correct order?

When drawing up insulin, it is essential to know the appropriate order to prevent any risk of contamination and to ensure that the patient receives the correct dosage of both types of insulin. The term "NR" refers to the correct order of drawing up NPH (Neutral Protamine Hagedorn) insulin and regular insulin.

NPH is a long-acting insulin, while regular insulin is a short-acting insulin. The priority in this case is to draw up the regular insulin first. By doing this, if any NPH insulin that is cloudy (which it is) contaminates the regular insulin (which is clear), it would be dangerous to the patient since regular insulin needs to be administered in a clear form.

This method ensures that the regular insulin remains uncontaminated and effective for immediate action when injected. Thus, the correct order is to draw up the regular (R) insulin first before the NPH (N) insulin. This practice is a critical component taught in nursing programs to ensure patient safety when administering insulin.