Hump Day Pump Day: Tandem T:Slim

One of the newer insulin pumps I recently came across is the Tandem T:Slim. What separates the T:Slim from other insulin pumps? It’s the first insulin pump with a touch screen.

The T:Slim has a sleek design that mimics an iPhone or iPod. I was a little nervous when I heard about the touch screen; the first thing that came to mind was how do you prevent from pocket bolusing? To get to your menu page, you have to press a button, and then hit 1, 2, 3 and the main screen pops up. The T:Slim was created to be durable with its shatter proof glass and aluminum case to protect you from cracking the screen. On your touch screen you will see your battery life, number of exact units of insulin remaining in your pump, and how many units of insulin are currently in your system and how long they will be remaining there.

If I chose to switch to the T:Slim, I may have to change my blog name since the T:Slim does not run on batteries. This pump has a rechargeable battery, that can be charged with a USB attachment that comes with a car charger, wall charger, and computer charger. IT doesn’t take long to charge and one charge lasts about 7 days.

You don’t have to disconnect while charging your insulin pump, so you can charge it while your driving or watching TV. Think of all the money you will save not having to buy AAA batteries every month.

Another feature that tandem has is their micro-delivery system. Most pumps put pressure on the reservoir to deliver your insulin. The T:Slim uses new technology that places the insulin in two separate chambers allowing the pump to deliver insulin units as small as .001 u/hr. The only thing I don’t like about the way their insulin delivery system is set up is that you can’t see your insulin reservoir like you would in a normal pump. This makes me nervous because there is no way of checking for air pockets or other issues, you have to just completely trust the T:Slim and I am terrified of fully trusting technology.

The T:Slim is a beautiful pump with a lot of great new features. I would probably have to play with it to feel secure with this pump. I like the touch screen, but am still a little on edge about the safety of it. The rechargeable battery is great; my only concern is when you need to charge your pump and there is no outlet around to do so. It would take more preparation and planning on my end verses now, when my battery alert goes off I can just grab another battery and replace it. It seems like a good pump, but I would need to have a trial run with it before I was completely sold on it.