Introduction

Paediatric uptake of insulin pump therapy in Type 1 patients in Australia is approximately 50%. Resources to initiate and provide follow-up care in pump therapy are constrained. This is producing a need for diabetes services to explore and implement efficient practices that will not compromise clinical outcomes.

Aims

To gather information on data currently being collected during the insulin pump therapy initiation and review process in order to gain consensus on data set parameters to measure clinical processes and outcomes. These will be used to inform a national paediatric database for insulin pump programs.

Method 

Multidisciplinary team members from paediatric diabetes services throughout Australia used the conceptual framework of Practice Development over a number of phased working groups to critically evaluate clinical practice in insulin pump therapy. This identified a lack of evaluation and consensus on practices to optimise pump programs and patient outcomes. In 2012 an online survey was undertaken of all paediatric centres in Australia to gather data on the  CSII initiation process. Survey participants included endocrinologists, Credentialled Diabetes Educators, Dietitians and other allied health professionals working in the diabetes team. SPSS was used to analyse results. 

Results 

The survey identified a range of variables that are currently collected by centres and by individuals within a diabetes team. Further it identified variables that respondents see as optimal for collection if pump program processes and patient outcomes are to improve.  Preliminary results indicated most centres have a database. However, there is variation in the types of data routinely collected and the tools used to assess patient knowledge and skills.  

Conclusion  

This information will inform collection of common data on insulin pump therapy across paediatric diabetes centres throughout Australia.

This project is supported by an educational grant from Medtronic