Table 3.

Frequency of the occurrence of individual errors in N = 462 patients at t1 and t2, respectively, and the correlation to the different error classes

Possible sources of error	Error class	t1		T2
		Number	Percent	Number	Percent
		[n]	[%]	[n]	[%]
Squeezing out the blood	F1	216	46.8	77	16.7
Settings (date, time)	F5	209	45.2	65	14.1
Sideways pricking of the finger pad	F3	157	34.0	36	7.8
Hand-washing	F1	99	21.4	20	4.3
Inserting / changing the lancet (skill)	F3	83	18.0	22	4.8
Stimulating circulation (if needed)	F3	81	17.5	13	2.8
Drying the hands	F1	71	15.4	6	1.3
Adjusting the prick depth	F3	63	13.6	8	1.7
Closing the test strip container after taking one out	F2	59	12.8	15	3.3
Documentation / saving the result	F5	55	11.9	11	2.4
If disinfected, was the skin dry?	F1	52	11.3	10	2.2
Checking the coding	F1	41	8.9	8	1.7
Cleanliness of device and measuring cell	F2	37	8.0	14	3.0
Sufficiently large drop of blood extracted	F2	26	5.6	6	1.3
Applying the blood sample / absorption of the test field	F2	25	5.4	6	1.3
Quantity of the applied blood	F2	25	5.4	6	1.3
Changing the coding (if required)	F1	21	4.6	4	0.9
Loading the lancet	F4	18	3.9	3	0.7
Expiration date of the test strips	F1	15	3.3	5	1.1
Storage conditions of the test strips	F1	14	3.0	0	0
Inserting the test strip / inserting the disk	F4	14	3.0	5	1.1
Check with the glucose control solution	F1	13	2.8	3	0.7
Condition of the battery	F4	12	2.5	8	1.7
Basic handling of the measuring device	F4	4	0.9	0	0
Choice of the desired unit (mg/dL, mmol/L)	F2	2	0.4	2	0.4
Use of correct test strips	F1	0	0	0	0