Blood glucose meters and other home medical devices today are small, portable, and easy to use. The mark of a good meter is one that the patient will use regularly and that returns accurate and precise results. Over the past few years the trend with blood glucose meters has been to maximize patient comfort and convenience by reducing the volume of the blood sample required. The blood sample size is now small enough that alternate-site testing is possible.

This eliminates the need to obtain blood from the fingers and greatly reduces the pain associated with daily testing. Accurate and precise results have been increased by using better test strips, electronics, and advanced measurement algorithms. Other conveniences include speedy results, edge fill strips, and illuminated test strip ports, to name just a few.

There are continuous and discrete (single-test) meters on the market today, and implantable and noninvasive meters are in development. Continuous meters are by prescription only and use a subcutaneous electrochemical sensor to measure at a programmed interval. Single-test meters use electrochemical or optical reflectometry to measure the glucose level in units of mg/dL or mmol/L.

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