Diabetes Project

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RKerr

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Hello everyone,

Im Rachel, a Product Designer and I need your help.
I am doing a project in Diabetes and I am interested in knowing all the worries, problems and issues going on. It can vary from the products you use, ID tags, interfaces available to food and so on.

The project shall be running until december and I shall be producing prototypes and testing them to the public until I come out with a good solution to a problem.

If you are able to help please get in touch. I am interested in all aspects so even email me on my personal email if you wish. 🙂

Many thanks,

Rachel Kerr
Designer

racheljkerr@hotmail.co.uk
 
RKerr said:
Hello everyone,

Im Rachel, a Product Designer and I need your help.
I am doing a project in Diabetes and I am interested in knowing all the worries, problems and issues going on. It can vary from the products you use, ID tags, interfaces available to food and so on.

The project shall be running until december and I shall be producing prototypes and testing them to the public until I come out with a good solution to a problem.

If you are able to help please get in touch. I am interested in all aspects so even email me on my personal email if you wish. 🙂

Many thanks,

Rachel Kerr
Designer

racheljkerr@hotmail.co.uk
Click to expand...

Dear Rachel
firstly welcome to the forum I am sure if you have a good browse you will find issues that affect us all on a day to day basis aswell as in longterm. I will put my thinking cap on though and see if I can come up with anything in particular, The only thing i can think of at the mo, is re ID tags there has been a thread recently about how to get all the info on without it blaring out DIABETIC on the front..Im sure the forum members will come up with more...maybe the parents good luck
am🙂
 
Hi and welcome to the forum!🙂

My son is 11 and the one thing he finds irritating is the size of the finger pricker. Why do they have to be so long? He carries his pricker ,meter and strips with him in a small bag on his belt - but the pricker is so big he has to have a bigger bag than he really likes to wear! If the pricker was the same length as the meter it would make such a difference. He also complains that all the medical stuff is in horrible boring colours - navy or black - or black or navy!
You can get insulin pumps in different colours - his is silver - so why not other items?
Why do we have to fill the resevoirs for a pump?Why cant they come pre-filled? This is the main cause of stress for a set change! We have lots of trouble with bubbles in the resevoir and then in the tubing.

I dont know if this is the sort of thing you mean - I am sure there are a few other things that could make life a bit easier - let me know if you need any more.🙂Bev
 
Thank you so much Bev, your reply is exactly what I am after.
I'll sure be in touch if I have any questions.

Thanks again,

Rachel
 
The finger pricker is a great idea, they are way to bug never thought about it before but now that i do, its huge compared to the res tof the things.
I think Glucose tablets need some time spent on them. I like the ones that come in the tubs best as they stay fresher and are supposed to be re-fillable, plus taste better. i have never found the re-fills for them so now i buy the detrox ones or what ever they are and spilt them between the manys tubes i have.
xx
 
Im having a lot of users talk about the ID tags and the aesthetics of the products.
May I ask the opinion on ID tags and if you have one and if not why?

Many thanks,

Rachel
 
Yes, finger prickers and also why so many meters have test strips that come in vials, which are impossible to carry around in pockets...

RE ID tags: My son does wear one -- a metal tag on a leather band -- but he would be happier with a variety. It's a tall order though: not too expensive, but if metal can't discolour. Big enough for all info wanted. Recognisable but not blaring out 'medical condition'. The rubber ones are cool, and the new one seems better (see other thread) but even then people not happy that so much is readable by the whole world... There is a real gap I think in the UK market, as many order from the States including us...

On another note: yes, pump reservoirs!

Also about pumps: why not have a tubing that is coiled up like a spring if you choose, so that it doesnt catch on things etc...Or one that pulls out of a device and you only use as much as you want, depending on where you are wearing it?

Hypo treatments: glucose tabs are a problem. So difficult to store, only know of one way of storing four in a decent container to carry around, gluco-carry I think it is. Same with jelly babies, etc I imagine. All of these things need to be able to go in pockets ideally...
 
The pen you need to use to administer Lantas. Its hard to flick the little slide switch to get the insulin to go in I feel. Any other pens i have been offered from Lantus are not great. Why can't they be easy to use like a nova pen.
 
Smit said:
The pen you need to use to administer Lantas. Its hard to flick the little slide switch to get the insulin to go in I feel. Any other pens i have been offered from Lantus are not great. Why can't they be easy to use like a nova pen.
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yes lantus pens are rubbish! i use the disposable ones because when I was first given the lantus pen we could never get it to work and loooads of people had trouble with them. I think you can put the cartridges in other pens though, I have a feeling Northerner uses a different brand of pen.
 
Smit said:
The pen you need to use to administer Lantas. Its hard to flick the little slide switch to get the insulin to go in I feel. Any other pens i have been offered from Lantus are not great. Why can't they be easy to use like a nova pen.
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The disposable solarstar pen doesn't seem too bad, it doesn't have the same feel as a novopen though.
 
I haven't got one yet, to be honest, they're so clumpy I haven't found one I'd wear. Plus I react badly to steel and silver, and need to save up for a gold one.
 
PhoebeC said:
The finger pricker is a great idea, they are way to bug never thought about it before but now that i do, its huge compared to the res tof the things.
I think Glucose tablets need some time spent on them. I like the ones that come in the tubs best as they stay fresher and are supposed to be re-fillable, plus taste better. i have never found the re-fills for them so now i buy the detrox ones or what ever they are and spilt them between the manys tubes i have.
xx
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Check out the medical shop - they do refill pots of 100 tablets, which fit into the plastic tubes :D http://www.medicalshop.co.uk
 
bev said:
My son is 11 and the one thing he finds irritating is the size of the finger pricker. Why do they have to be so long? He carries his pricker ,meter and strips with him in a small bag on his belt - but the pricker is so big he has to have a bigger bag than he really likes to wear! If the pricker was the same length as the meter it would make such a difference.
Click to expand...
Very good point. 🙂 I can't see why the finger pricker has to be the size it is.
 
Most meters have a backlight so that you can see the screen in the dark, which is great, the problem I have is that I can't test in the dark because the strips isn't lit up, I find it hard to land the blood in the right place, and I get in a mess because I can't see exactly where the blood on my finger is or where it is supposed to go. so a meter with better lighting would be good.
 
sofaraway said:
Most meters have a backlight so that you can see the screen in the dark, which is great, the problem I have is that I can't test in the dark because the strips isn't lit up, I find it hard to land the blood in the right place, and I get in a mess because I can't see exactly where the blood on my finger is or where it is supposed to go. so a meter with better lighting would be good.
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Perhaps if they had one of those little LED lights like you get in magnifiers to light up your fingertip?
 
RKerr said:
Im having a lot of users talk about the ID tags and the aesthetics of the products. May I ask the opinion on ID tags and if you have one and if not why? Many thanks,Rachel
Click to expand...

When diagnosed last year I bought a Talisman ID bracelet (gold plated) with the diabetic details inside it but I've also just recently got one of the ICE bracelets which has a silver bar (my choice from their catalogue of products) with "Diabetic" engraved on the front and my NHS details, contact details and my name and date of birth all engraved on the back. It's pretty with little gold and silver hearts making up the actual bracelet and much lighter to wear than the Talisman.

It's very much down to personal choice though as there seem to be many different designs on the market at varying prices.
 
sofaraway said:
Most meters have a backlight so that you can see the screen in the dark, which is great, the problem I have is that I can't test in the dark because the strips isn't lit up, I find it hard to land the blood in the right place, and I get in a mess because I can't see exactly where the blood on my finger is or where it is supposed to go. so a meter with better lighting would be good.
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my freestyle lite has a light that shines out of where you put the strip in, so if i'm testing in the dark it lights up the strip!

also my freestyle finger pricker is really small by the sounds of it, it's about 2 inches big at most and is about the same size as the meter
 
bev said:
My son is 11 and the one thing he finds irritating is the size of the finger pricker. Why do they have to be so long?
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They don't, Bev.

Owen Mumford sell boxes of 100 & 200 single use lancets that are very much smaller so can be carried around easily and IMHO less painful than the Accuchek finger prickers.
 
hermit104 said:
They don't, Bev.

Owen Mumford sell boxes of 100 & 200 single use lancets that are very much smaller so can be carried around easily and IMHO less painful than the Accuchek finger prickers.
Click to expand...

Thanks Hermit - i will look into it.🙂Bev
 
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