Which statement should the nurse include when teaching a client with type 2 diabetes who will take oral antidiabetic medications about glucose monitoring?

• A. The client should obtain a finger stick blood glucose reading before each meal.
• B. The client does not need to follow a diet plan.
• C. The client should avoid finger-stick testing at home.
• D. Testing should be done only once daily.

Answer: (A)

Self-monitoring of blood glucose helps a client on oral diabetes medications see how meals, activity, and the meds are affecting glucose and to make safe, timely adjustments. The pre-meal reading is the most informative baseline because it shows what the glucose level is before the next bite of food and before any further dose of medication for that day takes effect. This pre-prandial value tells you whether the current medication dose and dietary plan are keeping glucose in range, and it helps prevent hypoglycemia by revealing if the baseline is already too low before continuing with the next dose or meal.

Testing at home with finger-stick blood glucose is appropriate and empowers ongoing management. Checking only once daily wouldn’t provide enough information to adjust therapy or catch patterns, and avoiding finger-stick testing at home would deprive the client of essential feedback. Diet plays a fundamental role in controlling glucose, so coupling SMBG with a sensible meal plan is important for effective management.