Building Competency in Diabetes Education THE ESSENTIALS

BASAL-BOLUS INSULIN THERAPY | 12-81

TRAVELLING: INSULIN ADJUSTMENTS THROUGH TIME ZONES

The following patient handout represents one way of planning insulin dose adjustments while travelling through time zones. It is designed to avoid both hypo-and hyperglycemia and yet be reasonably simple to plan and follow. It has been used successfully for many years, although it has not been empirically tested. Various methods of adjusting to time zone changes have been reported by patients; many — such as wearing two watches and staying on the home schedule — seem complex. It is important to note that travel planning needs to be done with care and must be well understood by the educator, as there is potential for confusion and error. The travel graph has been used to plot insulin action in both local and destination time zones and successfully guide hundreds of people who use BBI.