Skin disinfection using hygiene swabs for self-injection of diabetes medications: an overview of the current best practices

Injectable diabetes medications are widely available. Although self-injection techniques update with the release of new devices, current clinical practices in Japan consistently adhere to the standardized hygiene procedures for skin disinfection. On the other hand, the manual for disaster diabetes care does not require the victims to skin preparation using alcohol swabs before injection. The World Health Organization shows that skin disinfection with alcohol is not necessary for subcutaneous injections, and that hand hygiene and skin preparation with soap and water are important procedures. Skin preparation for self-injection remains controversial. Thus, this article overviewed current best practices and discussed future implementation of skin preparation for self-injection of diabetes medications. According to the latest published studies, there is a trade-off between standardized infection control and cost-saving. To address the practical debate, revision of the best practices for self-injection techniques stratified by healthcare setting, cost-effectiveness analysis based on patient-reported outcomes, and opt-in prescribing systems are needed.