# Tandem t:slim - next generation pump



## Northerner

Looks good!

http://asweetlife.org/a-sweet-life-staff/featured/tandems-tslim-a-next-generation-pump/10839/


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## novorapidboi26

I agree.........................


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## everydayupsanddowns

That is lovely looking.


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## novorapidboi26

A bit better than this bad boy.....................


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## Ellie Jones

It certainly has the wow factor about it...  At last somebody who see's the pump as a tad bit more than a medical device..


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## Northerner

novorapidboi26 said:


> A bit better than this bad boy.....................



And this one!


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## Copepod

Hope it's a heck of a lot tougher than most mobile phones and iphones I've encountered. I've only broken one mobile phone myself, but I was narrowly missed by a Nokia N8 falling out of someone's bra, when she was abeilling down an outside wall of The Oval at London Rat Race, 26 Sept 2010. She was intending to photograph a team mate on another rope, in case you wondered. Good thing everyone at base of wall was wearing climbing helmets. Phone didn't survive, though


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## novorapidboi26

arghhhhhh...............work computer dont like photobucket.....


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## bigpurpleduck

I actually am not that interested in how my pump looks. It works wonders so I wouldn't care if it was covered in green zits. I'd much rather see more money invested in reliable CGMs and artifical pancreases (pancreasi? Pancreases never sounds right...)

"...mechanical failure of a traditional pump could theoretically empty the entire cartridge of insulin into the patient..."

Also, I hate scare-mongering statements like this. Cheers very much for boosting my confidence in my pump.

Sorry for being negative! Can you tell I'm having another bad day?!


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## Copepod

Lots of theoretical risks out there, but not necessarily a reason to distrust an insulin pen, although I admit I prefer to trust myself (on MDI) than a machine (pump)
eg MDI user could forget to administer their own dose of insulin, whether basal or bolus, or forget whether or not they've done it and potentially overdose by taking 2 doses (note Memoir pen would remember whether or not you've had dose)
eg a kinked tube from a pump could mean no insulin entering body for several hours, until noticed by user or detected by pump alarm - hopefully before DKA set in. 

I agree with BigPurpleDuck that appearance isn't nearly as important as function - I'd prioritise small size and weight, waterproofness, robustness, easy to read screen etc.


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## Northerner

I think that in a successful design, style can improve function (improving clarity, ease of use etc.). In some cases, style reduces function for vanity's sake and that is when it fails.


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## tracey w

novorapidboi26 said:


> A bit better than this bad boy.....................



That made me laugh!  thanks i needed it!


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## bex123

hmmmm , i dont like it.... only because i just sellotaped the screen up on my i phone , it still works but has a huge crack on it... makes me wonder how durable it would be , altleast the medtronic and accucheck pumps can take a bit of a battering... not like my i phone!


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## rossoneri

Thanks for the post Northerner, I think this product does raise some interesting points.  
My first impression is that it looks like a step in the right direction although on reading the article my opinion is a bit mixed because the focus seems a little misplaced.

First the good points   : -
I personally am pleased that a company is placing focus as much on design and appearance of pumps as on the functionality.  As Northerner says improved design and style can in itself improve products and their usability.
The looks are a plus for me, this pump certainly does not appear anything like the current pager-esque pumps or indeed how I expect a medical device to look.  At the risk of sounding a little shallow IMO it is cool.  If it matters to me you can be certain it matters a lot more to teenagers who, remember, need every encouragement to take their diabetes seriously (although admittedly their opinion of what is cool will undoubtedly be significantly different to mine!).
Reading the article I would say the better interface such as using a numeric key pad to enter numeric data are small but significant advantages.  Even the keyboard on the handset / remote that comes with the Accu-Chek Combo I have uses the rather cumbersome arrows.
The new delivery system does sound like it has its advantages but the main benefit appears to be that it is smaller than the traditional syringe style delivery.  IMO smaller is better.
Weaker areas  : -
The comment that a survey of pump users said they would prefer a stylish looking pump in preference to the patch style pump like the omnipod seems misplaced.  Most, if not all, of those surveyed would have had no experience of patch pumps.  If you were to ask the current omnipod users if they would go back to a non-patch pump I suspect they would all say 'No way'.
This pump is clearly designed not to work alongside a detached handset although the device's photo on the tandem website does suggest that the blood glucose meter is separate (and the results entered manually).  I think a handset is a better design choice, an unattached device is more useable and gives better design options.
The article does not mention any disadvantage of this design, and yet an obvious drawback to me is that the colour touch screen and extra functionality will necessarily mean that it will be more power hungry than the current simple pumps with their monotone LCD screens.
No mention about how the new delivery system compares to the current syringe style devices in terms of robustness, would what sounds like a more complicated system be as reliable?
I think the article itself does not help my impression.  The author certainly appears to be an Apple fanboy.  This is not necessarily a problem, as I like Apple products too.  They are not however as unquestionably great as the article suggests.  The recent fiasco with the new iPhone4 highlighted that not only had they not properly tested the new antenna but also that their software for measuring phone signals was defective and had been so for some time.  IMO this reveals the flaw in focusing too much on appearance rather than substance and if a medical device was delivered with this sort of fault it would be totally unacceptable, hence the checks that are in place that creates so much inertia in improving the designs of these products.

In the writer's defence, the insight into the potential errors in the amount of insulin being delivered with a syringe style device is something I have not seen before and worthwhile knowing about.


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## rossoneri

bigpurpleduck said:


> ... "...mechanical failure of a traditional pump could theoretically empty the entire cartridge of insulin into the patient..."
> 
> Also, I hate scare-mongering statements like this. Cheers very much for boosting my confidence in my pump.
> 
> Sorry for being negative! Can you tell I'm having another bad day?!



I dislike this sort of comment too but I would not be too concerned by this particular statement.  As someone who works with (software) designers and occasionally gets to do some design myself I do think that one of the flaws designers have when 'selling' an alternative proposal to an established product is that they tend to over exaggerate the flaws of the current design.  

Yes in theory what the article states here is true but the words "could theoretically" suggest there is little substance to the claim.  The mechanics of the current design do not prevent the plunger from being pushed, they instead cause it to be depressed.  To cause the full contents of a cartridge to be delivered would therefore be a catastrophic failure of the delivery mechanism and I think the current pumps do have safeguards against this happening, it would certainly be a straightforward failsafe to add.  If this type of failure had happened just once and been registered, especially in the litigious USA, then I am sure it would have been reported and anyone promoting an alternative design would be keen to provide links to said report.  And yet I see no links to back this statement up, hence the use of the words "could theoretically".   

I would therefore rest easy on this matter. I also hope today is proving to be a better one for you!


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## Ellie Jones

rossoneri

There is some information available concerning previous problems with pumps of the nature discribe by the author...  Check this link http://www.tudiabetes.org/forum/top...ts-on?id=583967:Topic:772882&page=1#commentsk 

This is dealing with the medtronic MM-T511 pump one of medrontic earlier pumps..  The true facts behind this case still today haven't been published, due to legal reasons..

However you do have to remember that the MM-T511 was an early version pump and newer pumps have had many improved safety features added to the pumps... Such as the ability to set the amount of insulin used in priming and maxium amount of insulin any any one bolus..


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## rossoneri

Oh Ellie, the idea of my post was an attempt to help Emma (bigpurpleduck) feel a little less disturbed by what was said in the article about the t:slim.  Now you have got me feeling worried too!    OK only kidding. 

Thanks for the link the article and especially the comments thread are a good read and this sort of event is worth knowing about.  As you say the pump(s) mentioned here are at least one generation earlier than what most of us are using these days.  It does however certainly explain some of the settings on the pump that I use today that had puzzled to me to a certain extent, for example why the Stop mode alert is so frequent, why there is an upper limit on the amount when Priming and why the maximum Basal is 50 units.

It is a little disappointing to hear how Medtronic appear to be so unhelpful in getting to the bottom as to to why this awful circumstance had occurred.  Yet when you read the comments from other people about the "need to sue" it does become more understandable why they are so reluctant to risk accepting responsibility.

What I perhaps should have said in my post, but thought that I had maybe already written too much , was that what had frustrated me in the t:slim article was the confident assertion that 





> ... In the Tandem pump, however, even full mechanical failure couldn?t push out all remaining insulin into the patient. ...


  I cannot see why, if a complete mechanical failure with the current syringe style mechanism can push the full contents of cartridge out, a similar failure of the "micro-shuttle valve" could not leave the "gate" open to allow the full contents of the cartridge out too.  

Anyway I do feel confident that given the concerns we have with maintaining control this sort of thing is one of our lesser worries.


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## Ellie Jones

I was hesitant about sharing the link...

But then thought, that well older generation of pump and I reckon if the Candian's found a major problem then they would have pulled every MM-T511 pump going off the market, and wouldn't of worried about being sued for releasing the information...  After all it was the Candian goverment who did the inquery...

And it says a lot, that the lads sister is now using insulun pump therapy...


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## bigpurpleduck

rossoneri said:


> Oh Ellie, the idea of my post was an attempt to help Emma (bigpurpleduck) feel a little less disturbed by what was said in the article about the t:slim.  Now you have got me feeling worried too!    OK only kidding.



Just to clarify - I wasn't disturbed by the t:slim article. I was just peed off at the author's scare-mongering tactics. I don't doubt my pump's safety for a second 

Having said that, I chose not to read the article Ellie posted anyway!


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