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

ABSTRACT

Objective: Simultaneous teamwork is an advanced collaboration subtype that includes the patient’s evaluation by the team members (including doctor, nurse and dietician) together 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 retrospective study included 49 previous insulin pump users with Type 1 diabetes who participated in a simultaneous teamwork protocol. Metabolic and clinical parameters were collected 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 difference 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.