ER removed Dexcom G6 & threw it away. They thought it had insulin in it. I guess no one thought to train them on diabetes. Has this happened to anyone else? Does Dexcom replace it for free in a situation like this? They also removed & threw away the Tandem cannula, but I have an extra one of those. Keep in mind that the insulin pump was not attached to my brother. I had the pump in my purse, because his blood sugar had dropped alot. EMTs took him to the er. I want to warn people about this.
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Good to know. I had an issue after some surgery where there was evidence someone had gone thru my purse. Insulin pen not put back but there were no valuables in purse so not sure if it was insulin they were looking at or what. I have not had good experiences in hospital settings as a diabetic. Hospitals seem to be in the 1960ās when dealing with diabetic patients
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I agree with you. I donāt think theyāve been trained on diabetes. They know the disease exists & thatās about it. Perhaps the employee sold your insulin pen.
And if youāre an adult, they automatically assume your have T2D! Iāve had to explain (way too many times) that the names were changed to T1 and T2 because age is NOT a criteria. Iāve also had to explain that if a person was Dxād with T1d as a child and they have had access to the things we need to live, we get to grow up to e adults with T1D. I swear, I wish I knew then what I know now. I could have taken my high school diploma, gotten a job with the insurance claims dept and practiced medicine without all those years of education and the big med school debt.
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Yes it seems that medical personnel need some insulin pump/cgm training. Criminy, I thought there was enough of us out there that this education would be standard. Also airport security peeps are (sometimes) clueless as to why Iām not wanting to go through their apparatus. Sheesh, makes me feel very āspecialā when I ask to be patted downā¦
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Every new nurse or doctor I see, thinks I am type 2. Even had one nurse tell me that now that Iām older I have type 2. It really makes me worry about what other conditions they donāt understand.
Way back a doctor told me that type 1 diabetics donāt live long enough to get old so all old diabetics are type 2. Wow. I still donāt know if that was a joke, probably 30 years ago.
I just had an MRI done and the nurse told me to remove my insulin pump from my arm, and of course it was a G7. I guess you could wear a pod there, but really they donāt look alike
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Ohā¦
Iām not familiar with omnipod. I forgot all about that. Because itās tubeless, I can see where they got Dexcom mixed up with Omnipod. I just wish someone would train them on diabetes. They donāt look alike.
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They are absolutely NOT supposed to do this.
They made a mistake.
All medical supplies are supposed to be transported with the patient, by the medics, and the ER is not supposed to 'throw them away," especially if they donāt know what they are.
I think you, or your brother, have an obligation to contact them about this so it doesnāt happen to someone else. That would be the best thing to do. Sometimes people make mistakes. But its OK to explain their mistake so they donāt keep making it. Its a pain in the ā ā ā to loose a transmitter.
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Iād guess DexCom will replace the G6 free of charge (theyāll replace it if it has to be removed for an MRI, etc).
I was a hospital patient last monthāfirst time in 36+ yearsāand they wanted to do finger sticks and insulin injections. They recognized my cgm and knew I was using an insulin pump; I wasnāt asked to remove either one. BG tests were at rather random times and no insulin before meals, so I signed paperwork to continue use of my insulin pump (it was in use all this time, but I wasnāt bolusing with it). I was very disappointed by the lack of knowledge of cgm and insulin pumps. My experience last year with 2 medical procedures that required anesthesia was similar (but no insulin injections suggested). The nurse prepping me for one of the procedures had to go ask if she could use my cgm reading or if she had to do a finger stick! (she had to do the finger stick) Iāve been T1 for 67 yearsāat diagnosis, my parents were told I had a 12 year life expectancy. Diagnosis was in 1957, so that lifespan number was likely accurate at that time. Hospitals desperately need to train staff on cgm and pumps!
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@Looking_for_Answers Did you contact Dexcom and did they send your brother a new sensor?
I used to live near a hospital that had a policy that required staff to remove a pump when a patient was admitted. At the same hospital a friend with Type 1 (and on a pump ) was admitted for another reason. The care was limited to 3 finger sticks per day because that was the Medicare limit. They must have thought she was Type 2 also. Her glucose readings were around 375 and the staff thought that was fine because she wasnāt low. Very scary.
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Healthcare āprofessionalsā know very little about either T1 or T2. I) see this and it is scary. Now that pumps and CGM are more widely used it is even worse in terms of healthcare workers and their LACK of knowledge. Healthcare workers are (perhaps legitimately) worried that a pump will deliver insulin and they will not be aware and they are accountable. OTOH, now in 2024 there is no excuse in my opinion for the type of experience you have had. There is NO training. There are only software algorithms for standard sliding scale treatment whether T1 or T2. A deep chasm of ignorance. Pump/CGM users, if they are fortunate, at least get to sign a waiver stating that they know what they are doing and that they are responsible. Either way, it is not easy and it can be unsafe.
I didnāt contact Dexcom. We had just gotten a shipment of G7, so weāre going to start it soon. My brother is still in the hospital. It made me mad that they threw away the G6 transmitter because itās supposed to last 90 days. I think the solution is for omnipod to have the word āinsulinā on it. Then train workers not to ever remove anything that doesnāt have the word"insulin" on it.
There are times when having a spare of any diabetes supply is critical. If Dexcom wonāt help by sending another (thereās a good chance they would), reach out to hospital and make it clear to them they owe you one. Hospitals arenāt worried about charging us. If it doesnāt ācostā them something, they have no reason to better educate their staff. That said, this story, and the replies, are very concerning. I keep an sheet in my wallet & wear a medic alert to notify medical / ER staff of my conditions, meds & docs, just in case i cannot advocate for myself. After reading the above, i wonder if thatās enough. ĀÆ_(ć)_/ĀÆ
Sorry to hear your brother is still in the hospital. I hope heās recovering. Iād suggest asking for a replacement sensor and transmitter from Dexcom. You donāt have too many spares until they are expiring before you can use them. Dexcom has a quick little replacement form at https://dexcom.custhelp.com/app/webform Or call 1-888-738-3646
Monday - Friday 6 AM - 5 PM PST.
Roughly 0.5% if people in the US has T1D. We arenāt quite unicorns but close. Nurses are overworked and underpaid. Worse thereās been a trend to expect less from nurses so they can be paid less reversing the progress nurses made in the 80s and 90s becoming highly trained healthcare providers.
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Gezunt, I understand what youāre saying, but Iām in a position where I truly have to choose my battles. I began helping my brother 11 years ago, and I could write a book about all the unbelievable experiences weāve had. Americaās healthcare system has its strengths, but weāve had a lot of nightmarish experiences. Weāve tried 3 different hospitals, and they were all horrible. I just try to keep them from killing him. I read a lot of medical research and thereās a huge disparity between what the researchers know and what our healthcare system is doing. Iād like to speak out at some point about the er throwing it away, but more in terms of preventing it in the future. I think I am probably the worldās best advocate, but so much of the time, I have to have multiple conversations to get them to do what they need to do. And sometimes I have to fight a huge battle to get them to do what they need to do. Iām worn out with it all.
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Also, he went to the nursing home today for rehab. I think heāll be there 2 or 3 weeks. Heās lost some strength, so he needs physical therapy. I think heāll be ok. They think he had a bad reaction to a prescription drug.
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Apparently your experience of the hospital not knowing about your CGM is common, as are the many stories about personnel in hospitals having little understanding of T1D.
I have posted here about my experience several years ago. 4 days in the hospital, would not let me manage BG myself, but did not manage it themselves, ran in the 350 range. I found one knowegeable nurse who said she was powerless to do anything about it. She said the staff sees a fair number of T2Ds, but not many T1Ds so they really donāt know much about us.
Good news, though. Same system, different hospital, 8 months ago, had ablation (to fix heart rate). They now have a procedure that if the admitting doctor approves, I could sign a form (to protect against lawsuits) where I could tell them how much insulin to give me. It wasnāt perfect, but a big improvement over my previous experience.
If you couple the obvious lack of training about T1D and their fear of lawsuits (leading them to take away our insulin to avoid self-inflicted problems I suppose), being a T1D in a typical hospital is scary.
My recommendation for planned visits is to have your Endo or PCP advocate that you be allowed to manage your BG levels. If that is not possible, then before admitting, you need the physician to agree they will target BG to be 75-170 or similar and will correct if it goes higher I think some hospitals know to give fast-acting insulin before meals, but have no procedure to check BG level 2 hours later and give corrections if BG is high. That last part is so simple and it is scary many hospitals do not make that part of their procedures.
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I also had a similar experience in the hospital and almost died because of their lack of knowledge. Thank goodness one doctor caught it and I live to tell the tale. Needless to say, I am terrified of going to the hospital
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Of course ER staff canāt know everything about diabetes tech, but why couldnāt they ask an endocrinologist or CDE to help with that?
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