Using Insulin Pumps in Diabetes: a guide for nurses and other health professionals

This book, published in 2008, is written primarily for UK health professionals, but it is also deliberately written in a jargon-free, straightforward style to make it understandable for anyone. It provides comprehensive information on pumps and pump use across a multitude of different situations. If you want to use pumps in your diabetes team, or if you are a pump user that wants to know more to help you in complex management situations, this book is for you.

Chapter by chapter, it provides:

  • What pump therapy is and national guidance on pump use.
  • The advantages and disadvantages of pump therapy.
  • Real-life experiences of pump users.
  • General insulin pump features and infusion sets.
  • How to set up an insulin pump service.
  • Assessing suitability for an insulin pump.
  • Matching insulin doses to carbohydrate intake.
  • Using an empowerment approach to pump education.
  • How to initiate pump therapy.
  • Setting and adjusting insulin pump doses.
  • Gaining good control of blood glucose levels.
  • Day-to-day aspects of living with a pump.
  • Using pumps for babies, children and teenagers.
  • Using pumps in pregnancy.
  • Complex management situations (illness, ketoacidosis, hospital admissions, renal failure, gastroparesis, cystic fibrosis).

Amazon review of Using Insulin Pumps in Diabetes', February 2009 by Dr Jeremy Fletcher (UK) :

"The title modestly proclaims it a guide for nurses and other HCPs, but I'm a diabetes consultant and, as someone new to insulin pump therapy, I learned a huge amount by reading it. The author takes the reader from an explanation of the physiological rationale for the insulin pump, through the practicalities of setting up a pump service, and patient selection, and on to detailed explanations of initiating and optimising therapy. The approach is very much UK-orientated (unlike much of the literature in this area, which has a US bias), and is up to date (with the sole exception of not incorporating the latest NICE guidance). I can heartily recommend this volume for any diabetes healthcare professional new to insulin pumping."

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