Hi all, my team and I are Master of Engineering students (in Biomedical Engineering) at the University of Toronto. Our major school project is tasked with improving the device design of closed loop insulin pump systems and this survey would greatly assist us in doing so!
All the data collected will remain anonymous and strictly confidential. The survey is meant for educational purposes only. This survey is intended for users (or family members or friends of users) of the device. Feel free to contact me (bruceoathsman.thevakumaran@mail.utoronto.ca) if you have any questions.
@BruceEngineer… hey Bruce, I am not at all sure you know what a closed loop pump is, or how these questions are pertinent to the subject line. I answered for what it’s worth regardless.
An engineering study should start with the end users main complaints, a full understanding of the device’s purpose and the major criteria of the currently available equipment. Based on these inputs, you might have a better basis for a “re-engineering” (if that’s a word) or at lease an actual user input pull for any area of improvement.
Hello Joe!
I’m extremely sorry for having my subject line ambiguous and vague - my fault totally. I’ve rephrased the subject line in hopes that it will be much clearer. Thanks for answering the questions. Appreciate it!
I’m interested in responding to your survey, but my son uses a Dexcom G6 with a Tandem tSlim X2 pump with the Basal IQ software, which is not truly closed loop. I have reviewed the survey and feel the questions are not appropriate for us. I’m not sure what other FDA approved closed loop systems are on the market in the US besides the 670G. In playing with the two devices at the endocrinologists office, I found the Tandem pump much easier to use due to its interface, but potential for incorrect data entry might be higher due to the touch screen.
Currently the Basal IQ software has been very good for the most part, but it’s not smart enough to recognize the difference between a falling glucose that could lead to a dangerous low glucose and a falling glucose that is 100 points above the users target glucose (say 220 versus 120), and it shuts off basal delivery in both cases. I have spoken with Tandem about this already, but it might be applicable for your project. Basically, the software needs to take target glucose into account.
Look at the APS - you build it yourself. It is the best and about 5 years ahead of what is commercially available. You can use a Rasberry Pi or an Einstein and hack a minimed pump and a G6. Works great - just too much stuff to carry around - that would be what we need to work on - better and more compact and efficient.
I read your survey, but it’s not at all clear what you are trying to discern, or how the answers will help you design a better closed loop system. Have you spoken to the Endocrine and Diabetes Platform faculty at the University of Toronto? Perhaps they could help you better craft such a survey.
You could also go through GitHub and taken a look at the materials there first.
Why don’t you just build your own APS - the code is out there and is all open source. My son built his own…hacked a MM pump and a G6 and added a Rasberry Pi. Codes go through the cloud. Open APS is so far ahead!