The Reference Guide to Integrate Smart Insulin Pens Into Data-Driven Diabetes Care and Education Services

Abstract

Purpose: More than 7 million Americans who have diabetes use insulin therapy. The majority continue to use syringes and vials or traditional insulin pens to deliver their insulin doses. Using these tools to deliver insulin presents numerous challenges for both the person with diabetes and their clinicians. This article provides an in-depth introduction to a new category of insulin delivery devices and integrated management systems, referred to as smart insulin pens. The article includes information about how these integrated insulin delivery systems can reduce many of the challenges of rapid-acting insulin dosing via injection by enabling easier and more accurate dose recording, dose calculations, and sharing of diabetes management data with clinicians. This article also discusses new roles for diabetes care and education specialists in diabetes data-driven care and practice and addresses how smart insulin pens represent one of many newer digital diabetes management tools that can assist people with diabetes and their clinicians to optimally achieve and deliver quality, data-driven diabetes care. Conclusions: Newer and simplified insulin delivery devices with their integrated management systems, such as smart insulin pens, have the potential to minimize the challenges and complexities associated with insulin injection therapy while also providing people with diabetes and their clinicians more complete and integrated data in easily transmitted reports that support more efficient data analysis.