LIVINGLIVING
SYSTEMS ADDICTS
S
peaking about the product
on behalf of Roche, Dr
Matthias Axel Schweitzer*
says, "Diabetes therapy is
a process - it involves more
than one element. Education, information
in the form of blood glucose results and
medication, all of which has to be daily. It
may also involve the need for behavioural
change and on-going monitoring of
success. We call this 'personalised
diabetes management'."
Prior to launching the new insulin
pump, Roche investigated how receptive
people with diabetes were to new
technologies. Dr Axel Schweitzer relates,
"We found that uptake was not affected
by age - older people were just as able
to take the new technology onboard. We
The newly launched Accu-Chek Insight insulin pump is one part of
the Accu-Chek diabetes management system, which focuses on
ease of use and communication between its elements.
found that ease of use was vital as well
as improved outcomes in terms of their
diabetes management. Also, technical
difficulties were barriers to both ease
of use and satisfaction. Web-based
technology was seen as easiest to use.
Interaction with and support from HCPs
or peers was also valued. This helped us
to see that the solutions we gave had to
be easier to use, and easy to share."
He goes on to say, "The fact is that it's
not a single solution. It's called the AccuChek diabetes management system for
a reason. Diabetes care is now about
integrated systems of insulin delivery and
glucose monitoring."
Clinical trials of the new Insight have
shown that certain aspects of the new
pump have proven popular. Dr Ingrid
Schutz-Fuhrmann of Hietzing Hospital in
Vienna confirms, "The new Insight has
various capabilities that worked really
well for users. We were able to see that
the introduction of wireless transmission
of blood glucose data immediately led to
increased use of bolus calculator as well
as an increased adjustment of therapy by
the patient themselves via the on-screen
manager. It's just much easier to use than
previous models and more 'visual', so it
was quick for them to see an overview
of their diabetes control. The training for
using the pump was also very short. The
handheld unit is just like a smartphone,
which is why people quickly picked up
how it worked. It's a touch-screen and in
colour and they just liked using it."
continued over