New Pump Accessory
August 16th, 2007 by Kevin
Here’s an interesting new product that we’ve been helping to test for about 2 years now. The Pump Protector(TM) was originally designed by a friend of mine to protect the pump in several ways:
- protect the screen from scratches
- protect the pump’s inner workings from shock of impact w hard surfaces
- protect the wearer from impact w hard surfaces
- customize the look of an insulin pump
My daughter is one of the test subjects for the product and she loves it. Slipping the Pump Protector onto her pump has become a must do before swimming. Before we started using this add-on device, we had several failed pumps due to swimming and the acrylic screen was always scratched up even in the short amount of time before failures. Based on our experience alone this is a product that every pumper should know about. We’ve also heard back from other parents and kids at diabetes camps this summer that they love the look and realize the value of protecting their $6k life saving device and a screen that is supposed to last for 4 to 5 years.
Hopefully as the usability and safety data are compiled, our experience will be the norm and the product can proceed to market quickly. Are there other similar add-on products out there for pumps and meters? I’d like to know about them if you do.
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August 16th, 2007 at 7:29 am
My own feelings as a former pump wearer (who has happily returned to MDI with no adverse impact on glycemic control) is that items like these should not be a necessity under any circumstances. Any insulin pump that fails to stand up to such routine wear-and-tear should not be on the market.
August 16th, 2007 at 7:44 am
I agree 100% with your sentiments regarding high end products being able to stand on their own. Possibly due to quality and reliability issues, you made the choice to return to MDI. In our case, that is not an option as pumping is clearly the better choice in her case. So, the good news is we have been able to enjoy the benefits of an after market ‘upgrade’ with a simple solution to what I believe are wide spread problems. The tricky part in this case is that the problem/benefit scenario is probably limited to swimming and this feels like a simple and effective solution vs. what it would take to build this protection into every pump for 24×7 utilization. Pumps would have to be larger for sure to accommodate the extra padding. And I didn’t say every pumper needs it - just awareness so they can make a decision (ie - I swim a lot and experience problems because of swimming. Therefore this product might help me.)
Future pumps will surely improve and include aspects of this protection like scratch proof screens. As for the coolness factor from personalization, the skins concept will probably live on forever as an add-on at least until there are materials that can mimic a design and change their own look based on uploading a new image. Now that would be cool but hardly a requirement.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Kevin
This looks like something really useful. Is there a web site for it yet?
August 16th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
How about answering a survey as we get closer to determining if this should be made available as a product? The link is:
http://www.pumpprotector.com
Anyone who responds to the survey and indicates that they would like to receive the results will get copied when the survey completes… when survey responses stop. Gary would appreciate all the help he can get on this so much appreciated.