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Health-care professionals in India frequently manage injection or infusion therapies in persons with diabetes (PWD). Patients taking insulin should know the importance of proper needle size, correct injection process, complication avoidance, and all other aspects of injection technique from the first visit onward. To assist health-care practitioners in their clinical practice, Forum for Injection Technique and Therapy Expert Recommendations, India, has updated the practical advice and made it more comprehensive evidence-based best practice information. Adherence to these updated recommendations, learning, and translating them into clinical practice should lead to effective therapies, improved outcomes, and lower costs for PWD.

As injectable therapies such as human insulin, insulin analogs, and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists are used to manage diabetes, correct injection technique is vital for the achievement of glycemic control. The forum for injection technique India acknowledged this need for the first time in India and worked to develop evidence-based recommendations on insulin injection technique, to assist healthcare practitioners in their clinical practice.

The second addendum to the Forum for Injection Techniques (FIT), India recommendations, first published in 2012 and followed by an addendum in 2013, covers various important issues. It describes how the impact of the so-called non-modifiable factors, which influence the injection technique, can be modulated; provides fresh information on timing of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist injections, methods of minimizing pain during injections, amyloidosis, and factors that impact adherence to insulin therapy. The addendum also lists semantic changes made to keep the FIT recommendations updated.

The forum for injection techniques, India recommendation, the first ever in the country on insulin injcetion techniques, have covered the science and the art of insulin injection technique in an exhaustive manner. However, a few gaps were identified in the document, which are addressed in the current addendum. This article focuses on insulin injection technique in special clinical situations, including geriatric people, women in pregnancy and those with dermatological or surgical disease who live with diabetes. The addendum also covers salient features of administration of insulin using the insulin pump.

Advances in the treatment of diabetes have led to an increase in the number of injectable therapies, such as human insulin, insulin analogues, and glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues. The efficacy of injection therapy in diabetes depends on correct injection technique, among many other factors. Good injection technique is vital in achieving glycemic control and thus preventing complications of diabetes. From the patients′ and health-care providers′ perspective, it is essential to have guidelines to understand injections and injection techniques. The abridged version of the First Indian Insulin Injection technique guidelines developed by the Forum for Injection Technique (FIT) India presented here acknowledge good insulin injection techniques and provide evidence-based recommendations to assist diabetes care providers in improving their clinical practice.