Poster 18: UK time and motion study of initiating tubeless and tube insulin pumps

Aim: To compare the time required for initiation with a tubeless insulin pump (a Pod) versus other pump types.

Methods: A self-reported Time and Motion study was conducted using a web-based tool to measure time taken by diabetes specialist nurses in the UK to initiate tubeless insulin pumps (Omnipod System or Omnipod DASH System) and tubed insulin pumps (excluding automated insulin delivery systems).  Pump users were adults with and without prior experience of insulin pump therapy, and initiations were conducted face-to-face and remote.

Results: The average time for initiating Insulin Pump Therapy (IPT) (176 diaries completed, 76 tubeless pumps, 48 nurses, 90% type 1 diabetes) was 109 mins (range 7 – 421 min). The average time for initiating tubeless IPT was 15 mins shorter compared to tubed IPT (mean ± SD 100 ± 73 min vs. 115 ± 83 min, p<0.05).  Initiations for tubeless IPT were significantly shorter for MDI users (mean time difference 17 min, p<0.05) across all settings, but not when users had prior experience of pumps (mean time difference 10 min, p>0.05).  Tubeless pump initiations were 20 min shorter than tubed pump initiations in the face-to-face setting (p<0.05) but not significantly shorter in remote settings (3 min less on average, p>0.05).

Conclusion: This novel time and motion study identified significant time reductions for initiating tubeless IPT compared to tubed IPT.  Applying this time saving across pump services could increase efficiencies for initiating IPT and reduce workloads. Further time-in-motion studies for IPT group initiations are needed.