Simultaneous Teamwork May Improve Hypoglycemia Rates in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Using an Insulin Pump

Abstract

Objective: Simultaneous teamwork is an advanced collabo-ration subtype that includes the patient’s evaluation by the team members (including physician, nurse and dietician) to-gether in the same session. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of a simultaneous teamwork approach on metabolic and clinical outcomes of patients with Type 1 diabetes using an insulin pump. Material and Methods: This retros-pective study included 49 previous insulin pump users with Type 1 diabetes who participated in a simultaneous teamwork protocol. Metabolic and clinical parameters were col-lected before and after the teamwork approach. A separate analysis of 16 patients in whom insulin pump was initiated with simultaneous teamwork and pregnancy data from 9 patients were also reported. Results: Simultaneous teamwork resulted in a significant reduction in the frequency of hypoglycemic episodes in previous insulin pump users with Type 1 diabetes. Hemoglobin A1c decreased, but the diffe-rence was statistically insignificant. Simultaneous teamwork was also efficient on patients initiated an insulin pump and for pregnancy follow-up in 2 separate subsets of patients with Type 1 diabetes. Conclusion: The simultaneous teamwork approach is a practical method to manage Type 1 diabetes in insulin pump users with the potential to reduce the frequency of hypoglycemic episodes.