Help with University research for Product development

[shiv]

Hiya. I like the concept but these are the things that sprang to mind when reading it.

1. Knowing the size of a drum of lancets and test strips, it would be pretty bulky (unless you plan to redesign these too?). One thing that some people, young people especially, look for is the aesthetic of the meter - how well hidden can I keep it? Is it slim, will it fit in my pocket? How much space does it take up? I think this is one big problem you would come up against. I don't want a box attached to my arm/leg that you can see through my clothes - for me having the pump is enough.

2. Some people using pumps & CGMs will already be wearing 2 pieces of equipment attached to them 24/7 - they may not want a 3rd

3. The idea of it taking a blood sample remotely is intriguing, but brings about a whole set of thoughts in itself:
- not being able to see the site that is being tested, leading to:
- when we prick our fingers, we usually have to give a little squeeze to actually get the blood out from under the skin - how would this be possible with your device?
- waste of test strips: with finger prick tests, you don't get enough blood every time you prick your finger - if this device loaded a test strip out automatically to suck up that blood and there wasn't enough, there's one test strip wasted
- on the other hand, you could hit a bleeder, and end up with lots of blood under the device - but maybe not enough so you could see it. You'd end up with lots of dried blood under the device which is pretty gross to think about, even if you only had it there for a couple of hours
- what would happen to the test strip afterwards? I can't remember what the other drum-based kits do with theirs.

4. Reading the above it sounds as if you are picturing this for long car drives, in the office, sporting events eg long bike rides (please correct me if I'm wrong!). We are constantly told to rotate the sites we test on to protect the skin and nerves, I wouldn't personally be comfortable using a device that would test for x amount of hours on the exact(ish) same spot.

Hope that helps!!

 

[shiv]

Would we prick finger manually using a separate lancet. Then touch blood sample onto meter, which is worn somewhere on body. Then results are sent to bluetooth device for recording/analysis ?

A drum of a number of pre-loaded lancets and a reel of specially designed test strips would be fitted in the device. These would make contact with the skin through a small hole on the base of the device.

Took me a minute to get my head round it too 😱

 

[Robster65]

I'm still not sure !

But I'm sure all will be revealed soon. What time do students get up on a Sunday ? 🙄

Rob

 

[caffeine_demon]

Just to add my thoughts:

1) What blood glucose monitoring device do you own? If you do not own one, why not? Can be either provided by the NHS or personally purchased.


I've got a accu chek compact, and a freestyle light (free from roche) - The lancet with the accuchek is much better (ballpoint pen style top button), and I like the way it's attached to the meter - and don't mind the extra chunkiness.

2) How often do you use it over a typical day?

about 6 times

3) How satisfied are you with the device?

pretty satisfied

4) Describe examples of problems you have encountered while using it?

couple of wasted test strips

5) What improvements would you like to see in future monitoring devices?

stripless testing??