Oh Medtronic Minimed, you are such a big prosperous corporation but your software is pretty old-school to say the least. You say that your software gets rid of paper logs & eliminates guesswork out of my blood sugar trends, but your lack of options, difficulty in seeing log entries & inability to personalize for each of your pump users really just ticks me off more than it helps me. That’s why I’m still using my raggedy paper logs from 1995! Here’s what I would like to see from Carelink 2011:
Personal Customization
I want my pumpy to have options, LOTS of options. These options range from personalizing basal rates (yes, you can name them!) to setting default carb boluses (if you always use a 90% now 10% dual bolus/2 hours, you can set it as a default!).
So I'd like all these options to be on Carelink, so that the pump user can click which options they want to add or if they want the simplest insulin pump ever (they can have it! I, on the other hand like options & lots of them). So here's my plan:
Main Screen
Insulin vial indicator: number of units left versus silly tiny bars. Personalized alarm that you set (if you want it to alarm at 40 units, it will & etc.)
Losing that circle on the main screen indicating different basal rate, temporary rate, low battery status, low insulin alarm, active insulin: How the &%$# am I supposed to know what that circle means?! So PLEASE change it so I know what is going on with my pump! I'd like to see everything on the main screen 24/7 without trying to guess what that circle is about. Just display it on the main screen please! For example:
| <136]-| 12:35 Y |||||-
| "Home Pattern"
| Temp Rate 80% (0.2U/H)
| Duration: 30 min
| 1.4 Active ins BG 195
.
1. Ability to name basal rates & saved temp rates (My basals would be called, "home" & "work". My temp rates would be called "weights", "cardio", "cycling," "hiking". These also display on main screen when in use (& with time left for temp basals)
2. I would be able to pre-set basal rates by the week or month. For example, on Carelink I would choose which days I want basal patterns "work" or "home" and it would communicate with pumpy & I wouldn't have to remember changing over patterns in the morning & night (hopefully preventing accidental highs/lows)
3.Low battery: display it so I don’t forget to change it, otherwise is it basal B, temp rate? Low insulin?
Carelink Reports
I enjoy the idea of logging my information into the care link such as carbs, meals, exercise, etc. but there is no report showing all the hard work I put into detailing my carbs, meals, exercise except for the exhaustingly long data report (hour by hour). I want a report like the daily summary but also adds exactly what I wrote into the logbook. So I know what I ate that day that spiked my sugar or what exercise that dropped me too low. Also, it takes WAY too much time to enter info the way it is set up now.
Customization: being able to choose exact dates to review information (sometimes I’d like just one week of info rather than 2, or maybe 3 or 5 days. Also being able to pull data from certain days only (like days with pattern A, or individually selected days, so I can see when I’m going low/high on work days, home days, weekends, etc)
A running list of changes to basal patterns
Possibly, a smart feature… noting the basal pattern and clustered hi’s, low’s indicating frequent times and how long after a bolus (and defining between meal, correction boluses) and offering suggestions (such as in carelink pro for MD's)
The process of adding information into the logbook is exhausting as well. It would be nice if all the options (carbs, exercise, etc & a new category “other”, so I can type in notes without having to choose an incorrect entry label. Therefore, all the options would be open. I can freehand type the time (10 entries for AM, 10 for PM and ability to add more) and then press enter and I wouldn’t have to go back and forth, back and forth to add so much information. (Which is almost useless right now since there isn't a simple, one page report sheet that shows logbook information along with the graphs). I need that precious info about what food I ate, what workout I did & my other notes with the daily summary, otherwise it's useless to me.
Bolus Wizard
I would like to see an option available that stores favorite meals requiring unique boluses in the wizard. For example if I enjoy the same meal that requires a dual bolus and extended time, I’m able to choose from a directory of saved meals/boluses and be able to increase, decrease the dose/carbs if needed as well. This would be available as an option in carelink.
Be able to set a set time for bolus. Such as in overeating in lows (I'm not recommending it, but it does happen) and people with gastroperesis. You can tell carbs/bolus but you’re able to set the time to deliver it.
Allow users to set their own default settings. If they always want to do dual boluses (90% now, 10% over 2 hours), let that be their set standard. Or if you’re low & eating, but don’t want insulin given until 5, 10, 30 minutes later… you have that option.
Add “CalorieKing” or other nutritional website to carelink, that way favorite foods/meals can be added into the system, therefore taking the guesswork out of carbs, fats, proteins, etc. It would be nice if these favorite meals could be added to the pump’s bolus wizard as an option (more on that later)
Future Meter/PDA
I would love to see a BG meter combined with a PDA. Although I wish there were a few upgrades to the current ultra link meter. I frequently check my sugar at night and it would be oh so convenient if there was a backlight, as well as a bright light where the strip goes, so that maybe I can see which way the strip goes and if there’s even blood on my finger when I check in the middle of the night.
This future PDA/meter would have wifi access/ port to access a computer. Communicate with my improved care link system and be able to display basal rates, simple graphs, favorite carb meals & their boluses. You can make changes to your pump or even bolus through your meter (similar to animas ping). Ideally, I would like to be able to use that PDA/meter as an electronic logbook. Being able to enter the foods through the calorie king database (or my saved database with unique foods) and tell it the type of bolus to use, communicating through the pump. I could also enter free text into the notes section for that day that would show up on the improved daily summary report.
Watch
Integrated stylish (simple) digital watch… shows time & your CGM glucose with arrows. No bolus function, but much easier to look at BG rather than looking at pump, pulling it out of your bra, etc.
I tried contacting Minimed about how to send them suggestions, but no response yet. I'm hoping one day they get it right.
