Last year Amy wrote an open letter to Steve Jobs. The design company Adaptive Path took up the challenge and created a design concept for a new device called Charmr.
Recently Medgadget (co-host of the competition) reported on some diabetes device design work by Sascha Morawetz.
This year the challenge has two prizes. $1,000 for 18 and over and the same for those under 18. The competition is open until May 26th. Read Amy's blog for full details.
Designers, ask someone you know with diabetes about the devices they use several times a day. The 'design' is close to awful. Some of the newer devices are an improvement, but very small. Look at the market reaction to the UltraMini blood glucose meter, and that's just because it's got a cute shape and is available in colors.
I do hope this year produces some designs that will make it into real devices. I can't wait to watch the entries on YouTube.
I use this term for a product that you may already like that then surprises you with a feature that you didn't even know existed. Like a car that turns off the interior lights before the battery runs dead, even if you'd left them on by accident.
I had one of those experiences today with my Cozmo. Yesterday my pump had started to complain that the battery was almost empty. And today I was running on voltage fumes.
I knew that I had to replace it, but I kept forgetting to. That is, until I was putting in a combination lunch and correction bolus. While the pump was delivering the bolus I decided to test what would happen if I removed the battery, essentially mimicking loss of power.
After replacing the battery I was pleasantly surprised to see a Bolus Interrupted message on my Cozmo. This is the kind of attention to detail that I've seen in other parts of the Cozmo pump. Those firmware engineers (the folks who write the code that runs the pump) really thought about this - good for you folks!
Dexcom delights
Another customer delight for me, this time from those great Dexcom folks. Today I got the new Dexcom CGM model to try out for a week or so (one sensor life). I'm going to replace my 16-day old sensor this evening and tomorrow I plan to try and use both receivers against the same sensor and see what happens. I'll use the OneTouch meter with the older receiver and my AgaMatrix WaveSense meter to calibrate the newer receiver.
What I'm hoping is that the newer receiver will show my readings to be higher that on the older receiver. If I'm right then it may prove my theory for my A1C being higher than expected.
The trial model also came with the slightly newer version of the Dexcom software. They've re-introduced the modal day view, which is very useful when you want to see recurring patterns in a number of days.
I'll blog about the new receiver and software after I've had a chance to play with it for a few days.
Note: I currently own shares in Dexcom, I try not to let this ownership influence what I say about the company or its products.
I saw my endo today and I was given a sample SymlinPen 60. I've blogged previously about my experiences with Symlin. So in this post I'll just talk about the pen itself.
When I got home I snapped some pictures before using it.
As you can see the pen itself is a little longer and thicker than a large ballpoint. It's an awkward fit in my shirt pocket, only about a half-inch of the clip is actually holding it in place. I'll definitely keep it in my diabetes kit.
I had planned to use the pen at lunchtime. When I opened the box and took the cap off I found...no pen needle in place. That's right, the sample cannot be used immediately. It's like a Christmas toy that has no batteries and all the stores are closed.
Luckily I had some 10-year old pen needles left from when I used an insulin pen, and once I got home I grabbed one of these. It fit perfectly.
The pen has a dial at one end that lets you choose to dispense Symlin in doses of 15, 30, 45, or 60 micrograms (mcg). For comparison, 10 units of insulin is equal to 60 mcg of Symlin. Many people with type 1 diabetes will use 45mcg or less per meal. If you have type 2 diabetes and are taking insulin then the Symlin 120 pen is probably more useful, it will deliver either 60 or 120 mcg.
To start with I attached the pen needle, dialed up a 15 mcg dose, pulled back the end to prime the pen and dispensed the dose into the air. This was to fill the needle. I repeated this several times until I saw a stream of Symlin.
Then I dialed up my regular dose of 60 mcg and was able to inject it using the wonderfully small pen needle. If you put the needle cover back on, you can replace the pen cap with the needle still in place.
There's an interesting design feature, where you can stand the pen on end. I'm not sure what the benefit of this is, or whether it's just a side-effect of having a built-in plunger. There are markings on the barrel of the plunger that help you determine whether it's pulled back far enough. This is especially useful when the cartridge is almost empty and there may not be enough Symlin left for the dose you want.
Note that once you've pulled back the plunger the only way to undo this is to dispense the dose. If you dial up too small a dose you can choose a larger number and pull the plunger further back. If you've dialed up too much, you need to just dispense the Symlin into the air.
As you push the plunger there are soft clicking noises. I didn't count these, but there seems to be one click for a 15 mcg dose and three or four (I didn't count carefully enough) for a 60 mcg dose.
Once you've started to use the pen, you can store it at room temperature up to 86 degrees F (30 degrees C). Unopened pens must be stored in a fridge.
Overall I think this is going to be a lot easier than carrying around a vial and syringe. I wish the pens themselves weren't disposable, but that seems to be the way these things are made nowadays. I think I'd give the pen design a score of 7 out of 10.
To improve the score Amylin would need to include a pen needle with their samples and reduce the size enough for this to fit in a normal shirt pocket. I think this will be a useful addition to my diabetes kit.
Update: As I've used the pen I've paid more attention to how it works.
When you press the 'plunger' to deliver there is one click for every 15 mcg. One each click 15 mcg is actually delivered, so it's a chunky delivery. Because of the pH of Symlin (4.0 which makes it acidic), that first click stings a little. After it stops clicking the plunger still has a way to go, but the last part doesn't deliver anything.
Also, when you dial up a quantity and start to pull back the plunger it clicks, again one click for every 15 mcg. If you pull slowly you can count the clicks. This is probably helpful for anyone who has vision problems. Nice design feature Amylin!
If you've got diabetes you already know that one of the big challenges is loss of feeling in your feet. This is caused by peripheral neuropathy and it often leads to foot damage because you can't feel the pain of an injury to your feet.
So those of us with diabetes are taught early and often to protect our feet. "Don't walk barefoot" is a standard mantra.
Today I was doing my random walk through the internet and I came across a product called Vibram FiveFingers. I've not bought a pair and I have no connection to the company.
These things look very interesting to me. And the thought of having a barefoot experience of sorts is intriguing. I really like the look of these, someone has clearly put some thought into the design (diabetes product makers take note).
I'm blessed with wide feet, but according to the FiveFinger FAQ (I had to use this alliteration it was too tempting) the material accommodates wide feet. So that removes one obstacle for me.
Have you ever heard of, or bought a pair of these? I'm tempted, but at $70 and more for a pair I'd love to know before I invest in them.
I couldn't resist this. Apparently B&O has a division called Medicom. They've designed a new inhaled insulin delivery device called the Insulair
This is clearly meant to steal the huge market share of the Exubera insulin bong. Personally I think the issues with the Exubera was the silly marketing name. Why not just come out and call it the exuberant bong. I can see the name designers say "We can use the slogan - Get a hit from your insulin!". Hah
B&O is well known for their product design, I can't help thinking this one might actually stand a chance. Though from a Google search it's not clear whether this is just a design concept like the Charmr or a real product that's not yet available.
Amy Tenderich posted an open letter in April that expressed her frustration with current diabetes devices.
This has been a recurrent theme on diabetes blogs for some time. In the book Universal Principles of Design, there's a Hierarchy of Needs that follows Maslow's hierarchy for self-actualization. This principle argues that a design can't be Creative before it empowers people to be Proficient. And it can't enable Proficiency until the design is Usable. Usability builds on Reliability and Reliability on Functionality.
The trouble is that the diabetes devices have been stuck at the Reliable and Functional levels of the hierarchy for way too long.
Amy's challenge was to get past what we use today and start providing us with devices that are 'insanely great', like this types of things we expect from Apple.
The (insanely) great news is that the design firm Adaptive Path have taken up this challenge. They've created a concept device called the Charmr, and they've blogged extensively about their design process for the Charmr. There's even a Charmr video on YouTube.
My hope is that diabetes device makers take this challenge seriously. And that they also remember that all devices are part of a larger system.
This system includes: those of us with diabetes; our various devices; the data collected by the devices (insulin intake, blood glucose readings, health information, etc.); and our healthcare team(s).
Remember the iPod? It's successful because it combines the iPod hardware with software that allows us to add music from a variety of sources.
Our diabetes devices will only really be successful when they combine beauty (creativity) and all the other important design attributes with the ability to get the data off the devices and easily share it with other devices and systems. In other words when the accompanying software is an integral part of the system, instead of an afterthought.
Diabetes: technology, devices, software, and other stuff.
About Me
Name: Bernard Farrell
Location: Massachusetts, United States
I was born in Ireland and now live in the US.
I have had Type 1 diabetes for over 35 years. I struggle with my blood sugar, the same as most people with diabetes.
I wear a Cozmo 1800 insulin pump and a Dexcom SEVEN CGM to track my blood glucose levels. I also take Symlin to help control my post-meal blood sugars.
I'm blessed by God, and every day brings the possibility of a cure.
