Information on coding, and how it applies to your diabetes. Bayer Diabetes Care was the first diabetes care provider to introduce ‘no coding’ meters and now has a range of blood glucose meters with No Coding technology
You can start using these meters right away, without worrying about coding.
What is ‘coding’?
- Regularly monitoring your blood glucose levels using a blood glucose meter is an essential part of managing your diabetes.
- Most blood glucose meters require ‘manual coding’ before use.
- Manual coding is the process of calibrating – or ‘coding’- your blood glucose meter each time you start using a new box of test strips. You may have to enter a code number into the meter, or insert a code strip or chip into the meter. This ensures that the meter is reading the test strips – and your blood glucose levels – correctly.
What does coding mean to me?
- It is important to correctly code a meter that requires manual coding.
- If you forget to code your meter, or make a mistake when coding, the meter may give you inaccurate blood glucose measurements.
- If you make changes in your diabetes treatment based on inaccurate results, you might be getting the wrong treatment.
How common is miscoding?
- Incorrect coding is common even when training has been given.
- Studies have found that 1 in 6 people with diabetes (16%) miscode when using manually coded meters.
- A miscoded meter will continue to give inaccurate readings until it is recalibrated with the correct code.
What happens if I use a miscoded meter?
- Miscoded meters can give incorrect blood glucose measurements and lead to miscalculations in treatment doses.
- This can lead to blood glucose levels that are too high or too low. Click here for more information on what happens when you have low blood glucose or high blood glucose levels
How will miscoding affect my diabetes medication?
- Scientific research has found that blood glucose measurements taken using miscoded meters may be up to 43% different from actual blood glucose levels
- To translate this into real life, if your blood glucose was 6.1mmol/L with a correctly coded meter, your test result might be as high as 8.7mmol/L if the meter was miscoded.
- A miscoded meter may produce an error of up to 4mmol/L in reported blood glucose levels.
- Meters with No Coding Technology are available and automatically code to match the test strips – they cannot be miscoded.
- The table below gives some more examples of test results from a miscoded meter that is 43% inaccurate.
![Miscoding vs Coding table]()
What are the benefits of using a meter with No Coding technology?
- Meters with No Coding technology are available and automatically code to match the test strips – they cannot be miscoded!
- Meters with No Coding technology remove the worry of inaccurate results from a miscode, giving you one less thing to think about when managing your diabetes.
- Accurate compared with manually coded meters
- Giving you greater confidence in your blood glucose measurements – Reducing the risk of calculating the wrong insulin dose.
- Convenient compared with manually coded meters
- Saving time
- Easy to use
