Greetings!
There's a few exciting things happening in the diabetes world at the moment.
One of the key solutions identified in our Type 1 Issues Statement is being implemented yeeehaa. It's really wonderful to see a positive outcome from the Issues statement work and here's hoping it's the first of many. See the article about type 1 guidelines for adults below.
There's also news about national health identifiers, type 1 jargon and pump recalls in the USA..enjoy! |
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| Type 1 Guidelines for Adults-At Last! |
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It's very exciting to see that one of the issues the Type 1 Diabetes Network has been lobbying for is being implemented .
Our Type 1 Issues Statement identified the need to "Develop evidence based guidelines for treatment of Type 1 Diabetes in adults, ...." and this was one of the key issues that Kate discussed with staff at the Health Department in Canberra when she paid a visit in 2008.
The Australian Diabetes Society and APEG (the group who produce guidelines for the treatment of children and adolscents with type 1) have been contracted by the Australian government to update the pedeatric guidelines and to extend them into adulthood.
We hope that evidence-based guidelines will help all Australian type 1s access the best care and advice no matter where they're located or how their initial diagnosis occurs.
The ADS announcement on the guidelines can be accessed here.
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| National Healthcare Identifiers |
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| The Australian government is proposing an initiative to have centralised individual health records.
To keep the Type 1 D Network members up to date, committee member Tracey Rail attended a Health Department simulation of the system.
Check out her thought-provoking analysis here. |
Insulin Pump Recalls in the Wall Street Journal
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 The Wall Street Journal, March 3 reports that the FDA sees increasing number of problems with insulin pumps.
"Device problems critical to insulin pumps exist across manufacturers," the agency said, noting there have been 18 recalls of devices over a five-year period, including recalls by a Roche Holding AG unit and Medtronic Inc. ...
The agency said the information provided by manufacturers involving deaths "was typically incomplete." The agency said in 225 of the deaths reported the device problem was listed as "unknown," although in many cases the device was never returned to the manufacturer for additional follow-up...
The FDA is convening an advisory panel of outside medical experts on Friday to discuss what actions might be taken to "minimize risks associated with the devices in these recall situations."
This is one to keep an eye on. In Australia any insulin pump malfunctions or concerns are handled by the TGA. There are no product recalls for pumps in Australia according to the TGA website.
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| *************Sponsored Announcement **************** |
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T1DN WANTS YOU (especially if you're an accountant).
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| The Type 1 Diabetes Network is looking for a volunteer to take on the Treasurer responsibilities as after 10+ years, Mel is taking a break.
Duties will generally involve a few hours a month, preparing financial statements and invoices and reports etc can all be done electronically.
Ideally you'll be a CA or CPA and have some knowledge or interest in reporting and compliance requirements applicable to charities.
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| Cholesterol control & Cardiovascular Risk |
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Endocrinology Update of 25 March reports on a talk given at the annual conference of the Royal Australian College of Physicians by A/Prof. Jonathan Shaw of the Baker IDI Institute in Melbourne. Shaw suggests that in terms of cardiovascular risk, there is more benefit in reducing cholesterol than in focusing on tight blood sugar control, particularly for older patients (it didn't define age though!). So worth chatting to your endo about this if you haven't already. |
QUICK SHOTS
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Hot topics on Reality Check online discussion this week:
On Munted Pancreas, Parents of Kids with D are discussing:
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| Diabetes Jargon |
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Participants and lurkers on the RC forum will recognise our very own jargon, nypos, protapain and pumps that bungee just to mention a few.
The guys at D-life have also put together some of their favourite diabetes jargon.
I particularly like "carbonese The ability to determine the number of carbs in a given food based on the total carbs and the serving size (coined by a 6-year-old child with diabetes who is fluent in Carbonese and can eyeball the carbs without her mother's input)."
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