Insulin Types and Action Times

ACTION	AGENT	APPEARANCE	COMPATIBLE with	PHARMACODYNAMICS
				ONSET	PEAK	DURATION
Rapid	Regular Semilente	Clear Cloudy	All Lente, Ultralente	0.5 – 1 0.5–1.5	2 -4	5 – 8 12- 16
Intermediate	NPH Lente	Cloudy Cloudy	Regular Regular, Semilente	1 -2 1 – 2.5	4 –12 7–15	18 -24 18 - 24
Long	Ultralente	Cloudy	Regular, Semilente	4 -6	10–30	36
Premixed	70% NPH and 30% regular	Cloudy	None	0.5	2 - 12	18 -24

Preparing an injection of insulin that is a mixture of NPH and Regular

1.       Inject air into the NPH (1) bottle equal to the amount of the insulin prescribed

Inject amount of air equal to the amount of prescribed insulin into the Regular (2) bottle

2.       Withdraw Regular (1) insulin followed by NPH (2)

Remember:

Contamination of Regular insulin with NPH insulin will convert part of the Regular insulin into a longer acting form