As the use of insulin therapy becomes more common in the ever-growing population of people with diabetes, practice nurses need to be aware of the range of insulins now available and how they work as they take on more responsibility for the management of these patients. In this article, we look at the production and role of insulin in the body and how type 1 and type 2 diabetes affects this. Moving on to newer insulins, we review how longer-acting insulins are used to mimic the characteristics of natural background insulin, the role of shorteracting insulins available for mealtime bolus doses, and the use of insulin mixtures in practice.
