HCL advice please

[Myrtle]

I am a type 1 teaching assistant in a junior school, one of our Year 3 pupils is starting on HCL using the Omnipod and Dexcom next week. We have had an hour’s training from the DSN but this raised more questions than answers around the practicalities, especially break times. We were told that the child needs to be within 6m of their phone in order to maintain contact between the elements but it is impractical for them to carry it with them. The suggested solution is for a member of staff to trail the child during their time in the playground.
Does anyone have any experience of managing this successfully? Is there any written guidance or instructions available for staff specifically for the Omnipod 5/Dexcom? We all took notes but would like something more official.

 

[Inka]

Can’t they ‘wear’ their phone @Myrtle eg in a ‘belt’, mini backpack or bumbag?

 

[Inka]

Here’s a Child SpiBelt, for example:

SPIbelt Kids (Black with Blue Zip)

As a parent, we want you to feel confident that your child has a dependable and discreet way to get physically active while wearing a pump or other similar sized medical devices. We at SPIbelt® have heard your feedback, and now, every Kids’ SPIbelt can accommodate cords and infusion tubing...

www.diabeticsupply.co.uk

You can fit phones in them if they’re not too large.

 

[Myrtle]

Thank you for the idea.
It was suggested by the DSN that the pupil was unlikely to notice or respond to alarms if they were playing. We’re interested to know what other schools/parents do.

 

[Inka]

But isn’t the pupil being ‘followed’ on Dexcom so that a TA or other staff member can get the alerts? A Year 3 pupil should respond to alerts anyway (ie get assistance). The only young child I know with Type 1 uses a kind of belt and they are younger than the child you’re referring to.

It sounds like a major problem is that you/other staff feel not suitably prepared by the training you were given. Can the DSN come in again? Can they answer queries by phone? Has a parent of the child come in too?

 

[Myrtle]

You’ve hit the nail on the head, it’s all happened at short notice, for us anyway and the DSN left us with nothing on paper to refer back to, nor did we have chance to look at the equipment. They just said that other schools have found their own way around it. I’m maybe a little more confident but other staff are wary of all that there is to remember. As far as I know the parent has not been invited in, I will make that suggestion and that of the child being “followed” via phone.
Thank you so much for your suggestions, they have been most helpful.

 

[Inka]

@Myrtle I think if it was me, I’d insist of having the basics in writing, if only to cover yourselves. As you say, it’s also really useful to have something to refer back to. Definitely invite the parent in. It’s courteous to them anyway as they’re entrusting their child’s care to you, but it also gives them the opportunity to talk about how they manage at home, when they go out, etc etc, and they can share any tips with you. You can also show them the child’s care plan and they can meet any relevant staff involved.

 

[Myrtle]

Thank you
I’ll contact the teacher in charge and pass all of this on.

 

[Sally71]

I also work in a primary school, we have two year 4 children who have been on insulin pumps with Dexcom since they started at the school. Both of them carry pumps/phones in a bum bag or similar, both are well aware if any alarms are going off even in the middle of lunch time play, and always ask to come in. Just as a back up one of the teachers had Dexcom Follow on a phone and knew if anything was going on (not sure which child it was for or whether it was her personal phone). There needs to be someone available all the time to deal with any issues, but they don’t have to follow the children everywhere, just be in the classroom if needed. So make sure at least 2 or 3 people know what they are doing and then as long as there is always one of them easily to be found you should be OK.`
It seems that your training was sadly inadequate, so hopefully you can ask for more, but I also hope that you’ll find in the end that it won’t be as difficult as you are imagining now.

 

[Myrtle]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I will take your solutions into work tomorrow. It makes so much more sense than our version.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope it works out well for the child, and the staff too.

 

[Myrtle]

Thank you for all your help. We’ve completed day 2 of HCL and touch wood, all is going well. Parents came in for a chat, we have purchased a waist pouch for the phone and set up a link to an iPad in the office. The child has taken everything in their stride and is finding my frequent check-ins quite amusing- so far.