Insulinology
Correction scales · insulin on board · product and regimen conversion — all derived from the patient's own total daily dose
Methods

Safety gate — check all that apply

Patient

Nutrition

Medications

Total daily dose (TDD)

How much insulin the patient was actually given on each of the last few days — all values in units. Only yesterday is required; earlier days steady the estimate if you have them.
Day Basal Meal Correction Total insulin given Day total
40
38
—
For insulin-naïve patients. Starts from the selected base and applies the modifiers above.
Transition off an insulin infusion. Use an interval where the rate and glucose were stable.
Extrapolated 24-h IV requirement × fraction. Give basal 2–4 h before stopping the drip.

Scale settings
ADA 2026 Rec 16.5b: 100–180 for non-critically ill inpatients.
Scale stops here. Above it, reassess the patient rather than stacking.
These preferences are remembered on this device. Patient values never are.

Dose check — right now

No scale generated

One or more conditions make a subcutaneous correction scale the wrong instrument. Resolve or override these before dosing from a scale.
Correction factor
—
Effective TDD
—
Basal
—
Nutritional
—

Correction scale

Glucose (mg/dL) Correction Overnight Action

The scale, drawn

Show the arithmetic

Insulin conversion

Guideline basis
Nothing on this page updates itself. A clinical constant changes only when a human reads the new edition and edits the source — what is automatic is this tool noticing it has gone stale and saying so.
Version 1.0. Sources · changelog · report an error

Note text

Clinical framing. ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes—2026, §16 Diabetes Care in the Hospital, Rec 16.10: sole use of correction or supplemental insulin without basal insulin — the practice formerly called a sliding scale — is discouraged in the inpatient setting. It treats hyperglycaemia reactively and produces more glycaemic variability than scheduled basal–bolus dosing. What this tool produces is the correction component, shown alongside the scheduled basal and nutritional doses it is meant to accompany. Glycaemic targets follow Rec 16.5b (100–180 mg/dL, non-critically ill); the critically ill, for whom Rec 16.5a keeps 140–180 mg/dL and intravenous insulin, are a hard stop here.

On the constants. The 1800 and 1500 rules are empiric, derived from outpatient type 1 pump populations, and are starting estimates only. Weight-based initiation figures, the 50/50 basal–nutritional split, the glucocorticoid NPH estimate and the IV-to-subcutaneous conversion fraction are likewise conventional rules of thumb, not validated equations. Every one of them requires titration against the patient in front of you.

What this tool does not model. Injection site and absorption variability, insulin antibodies, endogenous secretory reserve, C-peptide status, hepatic glucose output, dialysis timing within the day, dawn phenomenon, acute exercise, evolving sepsis, drug interactions beyond the listed classes, and every patient-specific factor not entered above. Insulin-on-board here uses a linear decay approximation, which is a simplification of real pharmacodynamics.

Disclaimer. Insulinology is an educational calculator built by Fateen Ata, MD, MSc. It is not a medical device, is not FDA-cleared, has undergone no clinical validation, and stores no data. Every output requires independent verification against the patient, local protocol and your own clinical judgement before any insulin is ordered.