BY JENNA NEWTON – NURSE PRACTITIONER, CREDENTIALLED DIABETES EDUCATOR – MANLY VILLAGE MEDICAL
Diabetes Awareness week is coming up from the 14th to 21st of July. This year we are shining a light on the impact that diabetes technologies can have on the lives of people living with diabetes and their caregivers.
Technology for diabetes can come in many different forms and can include insulin pens, insulin pumps, traditional glucose meters and continuous glucose monitors (CGM).
CGMs are small devices about the size of a 50 cent piece that are worn on the upper arm or abdomen that measure glucose levels as often as every minute and feed that information back in real-time to a smartphone or other compatible device. That’s 1440 glucose readings a day! This gives the person with diabetes or their caregiver lots of information about the person’s diabetes so they can make decisions with their GP and other members of their healthcare team about what foods are best to eat, how their medications are working and whether there need to be any changes made.
Currently CGMs are subsidised by the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) for people with Type 1 Diabetes, however they are available to anyone with diabetes. If you have diabetes of any type and you think you would benefit from using diabetes technology, book an appointment with your local Credentialled Diabetes Educator to discuss – and you might be eligible for a free trial.
