I visited The Newcastle Diabetes Centre (NE4 6BE) . I met with a Clinic Sister Nurse who was very kind and interested in the project! I was able to analyse the existing pumps supported by the NHS that they provide their patients. It was a really great opportunity to be able to interact with the pumps and get a greater understanding of their sizing, how they work and are interacted with. I managed to test the Freestyle Libre system and study the software interface of the controller. This is really useful to aid in the consideration of functionality of whatever I may design

Reflection:  The sizing of the Omnipod although I had pre visualised the dimensions was far smaller than I had imagined. I provided the Sister Nurse with my contact details and she seemed positive to connect me with some medical professionals in the industry. I look forward to further discussion and insights on my design ideation.

Today I began sketching and thinking about three basic routes I plan to develop. These are  ‘Kits or function’, ‘Controlling Sugar’ and ‘integrated delivery and monitoring’ .

Today has been a day of organising and emails. I was connected to a lady who has a daughter with diabetes. We had a brief phone call. I was informed of her thoughts on the pump ( Medtronic 640G) system her daughter uses as well as her brief thoughts on competitors devices such as the ‘Omnipod’. This was a very insightful discussion and hopefully we can follow up on email and I can gather further research and discuss further.

I started ideating around cartridge systems. Thinking about how the chamber in the Omnipod rather than be built in could be interchangeable just like insulin pens and other pumps. I produced a basic mock up model of a cartridge system. This would have to be drastically developed with the further considerations required for function and hygienic connections as well as the outer body.

On the 18th January I had a brief discussion with David O’Leary my major project tutor I was influenced to step back into my exploration and gather further direct consumer insights. I consturcted a diabetes research survey/ questionnaire that followed my current sign of thought but also influenced possibility for new directions. I reached out on social media (Linkedin and Facebook)  to different people hoping to find contacts in the medical field as well as those with relations living with Diabetes. Suraj (a fellow designer in my year) connected me with his sister who lives with diabetes. She stated she was happy to help and I sent her the research document to complete pictured above. A close friend Joseph Galloso also stated he knew 2 people who use different medical devices ranging from pump to pen so said he would happily forward and connect me with his friends. Ben Wortley used to be in my year group yet took a year out undergoing different placements. He was currently positioned at Johnson & Johnson- the worlds leading medical products manufacturer according to  internet medicine.com .  Although not positioned in the diabetes sector, he stated he would see if he could connect me with anyone to provide a design professionals perspective on designing medical devices and the important considerations.

As I have been struggling to get ahold of an ‘Omnipod’ device I decided to gather dimensions from the internet. I then scaled images of the internal elements to the same volume sizing. This then gave me an idea of the sizing of all internal parts. I was specifically interested in discovering the insulin chamber volume. ‘Omnipod’ very recently introduced a smaller version and therefore the chamber shaping was also different. Through measuring the different sizes and learning the ‘Omnipods’ heights it became clear that the chamber in the smaller ‘Omnipod’ had to be oval and not round. I then learnt that therefore the lead screw plunger system could be in different shapes due to the chamber able to be different shapes. This opens up more variety in design capability for how the wireless pump appears. Learning the dimensions also enabled me to make a mock up model of a rough guidance sizing I should keep to for the design of a wireless pump device.

I performed an analysis of the existing products on the market. This helped me gather a greater understanding of the different features and functions available.

Reflection: I found it particularly interesting to note  very few hightech pumps were designed with a coinciding monitoring device. There seems to be a range of hightech monitors or  pumps but not necessarily both features combined, or that can communicate with each other.

Registered with Diabetes.co.uk as a researcher. The website and form is very insightful. A large multitude of questions have been raised and discussed. I engaged in a few conversations about different pumps and patient scenarios. I found it particularly interesting to learn patents direct opinions on different insulin pumps, their benefits and flaws. There was a large conversation entitled ‘If your pump could do more’ .