Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In 2013 the Diabetes Team at a large children’s hospital commenced ‘Pump School’ for all children and young people (CYP) transitioning from multiple daily injections to insulin pump therapy (CSII) using Medtronic, Accu-chek, Animas and Omnipod pumps.

Aim: To provide CYP and their parents/carers with structured education to improve their outcomes including glycaemic control, hypoglycaemic episodes and quality of life (QOL).

Methodology: ‘Pump School’ provides six 3-h sessions of structured, pump specific education, in small groups over a period of 3 months. Sessions are delivered by diabetes nurses supported by company educators/representatives. CYP and their parents undertake a CSII awareness and an assessment process prior to the programme, exploring expectations of CSII, knowledge of diabetes management and carbohydrate counting competency. Generic presentations on daily management with CSII were developed with specific CSII function and operational tools for the individual schools.

Data collection: HbA1c measurements using the DCA Vantage analyser and QOL questionnaires (Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) and Fear of Hypo) are taken at baseline and at 3 months, by each family, to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.

Results: 35 CYP have been enrolled, 14 on Medtronic, 11 Accu-chek, eight Omnipod, two Animas and 31 have ‘graduated’ with one individual dropping out after session 1.

Conclusion: Improvements were seen mainly in QOL with minimal changes in HbA1c. Plans are to audit whether improvements are sustained at 12 months and to evaluate the curriculum, involving other professionals from other disciplines within the team.