Insulin Pump With A Rescue Dose of
Glucose
BACKGROUND
In America there are 34.2 million people, just over 1 in 10,
diagnosed with diabetes (www.cdc.gov). Over 50% of these
people use an insulin pump to help control their blood sugar
(www.care.diabetesjournal.org). However, the insulin pump has
no mechanism to help in a low blood sugar episode. Many
diabetics will have a low blood sugar episode where they can
experience confusion and even unresponsiveness; in this state
they have no way of helping themselves. This type of episode
can lead to organ damage, nerve damage or possibly death
(www.mayoclinic.org). If anyone has ever witnessed this type of
episode, it can be very scary. What can be done to help? How do
current insulin pumps on the market work? Is there room in the
pump to add a small dose of glucose to help a person in an
emergency? If so, what would happen if someone had too much
glucose? How is the insulin pump programmed and can you set a
timer?
In this newly engineered pump there would be a built-in
compartment that automatically releases a small “rescue dose”
of glucose. Therefore, less diabetics would experience low blood
sugar episodes. The main goal of engineering this pump is to
help people with diabetes never experience a severe low blood
sugar episode. And, to help lessen the risk of permanent damage
to their organs and keep them as healthy as possible.
ENGINEERING
• The independent variable is the new codes in the pump.
• The dependent variable is in the computer chip and the insulin
pump.
• The control in this experiment is an old pump.
HYPOTHESIS
If a new type of diabetic pump that includes a “rescue dose” of
glucose were able to be engineered there will be fewer diabetic
patients that experience severe low blood sugar episodes.
Olivia Coker
MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS
Materials An insulin pump is essentially a computer. It is composed
● Used insulin pump of a reservoir similar to that of an insulin cartridge, a battery-
● Computer operated pump, and a computer chip. The chip can be
● Computer chip programmed to recognize the date and time. It can be
programmed to know how much insulin to inject at each meal.
Method(s) It can also monitor real time glucose levels to determine if the
1. Put the computer chip from the insulin pump into a computer to see the original coding. Make sure patient is having a high or low blood sugar episode; in this
there is enough storage on the chip to add new commands. event the patient would get a text alert on their device to let
2. Duplicate the coding that tells the pump when to administer insulin so it can also administer the them know they need to act. In my research, I have
glucose. determined that the computer chip could have the capability
3. Run tests on the pump to see if all the original coding with the addition of the new coding is of administering a small rescue dose of glucose if the patient
working. has not responded to the alert and the glucose level is still low
4. Adjust coding as needed. after a preset amount of time. The pump reservoir is large
5. After completing the reprogramming, place the chip back into the pump. enough to hold the insulin in one half and the glucose in the
6. Add additional tubing to the new glucose compartment to mirror insulin compartment other half.
Current insulin pump on the
market used for research
Computer chip from
Current glucose
holding cartridge
inside the insulin pump Cartridge
connection to chip CONCLUSIONS
The hypothesis stands true. If someone is able to create a pump
that could house both the insulin and glucose, there would be far less
people that would experience severe low blood sugar episodes. There
appears to be enough storage space to program the pump to work
with both mediums and there is space in the pump to hold both
insulin and glucose. The biggest drawback to this newly engineered
pump, however is that the new design would have added components
Cartridge connection
to chip like extra needles, tubing and there would have to be small design
Additional tubing for glucose
modifications. This would likely add costs to the insulin pump. The
would need to come out of
this end of pump due to the
Cartridge for insulin and
glucose. Would need to add
This is where the glucose cartridge being split length for glucose cartridge. new design would also require an extra needle prick to insert the
cartridge would be added
tubing into the skin. Those things could be looked at as negatives
even though overall this would be an improved design. Also, the
injectable glucose that is on the market now must be stored at room
OUTCOMES temperature or refrigerated which also poses an issue as the pump
The chip was able to be visually inspected for size and connections but not for the coding language. It would be at body temperature or higher most all of the time.
was not able to be put back into the pump for any testing after the fact as the pump had to be cut open
to get the chip out. It was able to be determined that the chip does appear to have adequate storage for
additional programming so that would not impede this new and improved pump to be engineered. The
reservoir that holds the insulin is only occupying half of the length of the pump so it would be ideal to REFERENCES
use the other half for the glucose. The biggest downside to this is the extra tubing that would have to be
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hypoglycemia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373685#:~:text
added to administer the glucose which would include another needle stick each time the pump is =Hypoglycemia%20is%20a%20condition%20in,who%20don't%20have%20diabetes
moved – every 2 to 3 days. There is a place for a pump like this on the market https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/features/diabetes-stat-report.html#:~:text=34.2%20million%20A
mericans%E2%80%94just%20over,Asians%20and%20non%2DHispanic%20whites
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https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/44/Supplement_1