Background: Capillary blood glucose measurement is one of the most important diagnostic procedures in managing and treating patients, especially those with diabetes. Since the preparation method of the capillary sampling site affects the blood glucose (BG) level, it is essential to identify the best preparation method with the least error estimation. This study compares the capillary BG level with the venous BG level after preparing the sampling site with four different preparation methods.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study has a single-group design. It was conducted on 85 nursing and midwifery students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, in 2022. The subjects who met the inclusion criteria were selected using convenience sampling. Capillary BG was measured from each finger using a glucometer while each finger was prepared with alcohol, water, soap and water, or no washing. Then, the venous blood sample of the same person was sent to the laboratory. The data were analyzed by SPSS software, version 22. The Friedman and Dunn post hoc tests were used to compare venous and capillary BG levels obtained using different methods. The significance level was set at P<0.05.
Results: There were significant differences between venous BG levels and capillary BG levels in blood sampling site preparation with alcohol (P<0.05). Preparation with alcohol had the highest (7.34±27.03), and the soap and water had the lowest (-0.67±14.82) estimation errors.
Conclusion: The use of alcohol to prepare the blood sampling site, which is a common practice in many healthcare facilities, may misrepresent BG levels and lead to misdiagnosis and treatment. Therefore, it is suggested that the soap and water cleaning method be used instead, which has the lowest error compared to venous BG.