How much training did you get on your pump?

[KritterMom]

I'm just curious as to how much training you got when you started on your pump? I will start in one week, and I only get 3 hours of training. That doesn't seem like very long, but maybe it is, I don't know. How much time did you all get?

[GrammyByer]

When i got a pump, my diabetes educator was great! She had both my husband and me learn the ins and outs at her office, she called me daily for the first week on the pump to see how things were going, I faxed her weekly my logs which contained my BG readings and the carbs I ate as well as my insulin boluses and basal rates. All along the way, she made slight adjustments. She also organized a support group for pumpers which meets every other month. At these meetings she has speakers who go over all of the little idiosyncraces (spelling?) such as temporary basal rates for exercize, travel info, stress, etc. I hope your experience is equally good!

I'd like to hear from you how everything pans out - good luck!

Linda
type 1 for 36 year
last A1C 6.2

[notme]

About 2.5 hours and it was plenty. The pump trainer left her phone number in case I had trouble. I didn't have issues so I never talked to her again. The second start up with my new pump was scheduled for two hours, it took about half an hour so we visited the rest of the time. LOL.

Three hours is plenty. You may have some simple questions and fumble a bit the first few days, but you will do fine.

Good luck and happy pumping!

[Funnygrl]

About 2.5 hours and it was plenty. The pump trainer left her phone number in case I had trouble. I didn't have issues so I never talked to her again. The second start up with my new pump was scheduled for two hours, it took about half an hour so we visited the rest of the time. LOL.

Three hours is plenty. You may have some simple questions and fumble a bit the first few days, but you will do fine.

Good luck and happy pumping!
I had to do a lot. It was inane. I had to meet with the CDE to discuss pumping and pick one out. This was valuable because I didn't know which one I wanted and I got to see them all.

Then I had to go to the nutritionist TWICE to learn carb counting and prove I could. THe visits were suppose to be 30 minutes each. At the first visit I proved I could carb count in 5 minutes, and the second visit was cancelled.

When I got my pump I started it right away. I was bad...

I was suppose to do a saline trial. The stat up for this was suppose to be 3 hours. I went, it was an hour, I dumped the saline when I got home and put insulin in.

Then the actual insulin start was suppose to be 3 hours too. It was 45 minutes.

I also had the trainer's phone number, and my CDE's.

[JJeenn]

I've just started on the pump (three days now) and I got about three hours of training, although I got out half an hour early. It was enough time to go over everything, and I've got the diabetes nurse's pager number in case I have any questions. Right now I'm phoning her at the end of each day with my readings and we make any changes, and today I have an appointment to go in for my first site change (she offers that people can come in for the first one and said most take her up on that offer). I got my pump a few weeks before training and put a battery in it, and empty cartridge and read the manual and just played with it, because the nurse had said the more familiar I was with the features and menus the quicker training would go.

[w5wjp]

Started on Jan 4th and got about 2.5 - 3 hours with the trainer. She had me call later that day to let her know I was still alive....lol and call her 2 days later. No problems, training was pretty complete and I have had no questions that I couldn't figure out.

[Dewey]

I'm just curious as to how much training you got when you started on your pump? I will start in one week, and I only get 3 hours of training. That doesn't seem like very long, but maybe it is, I don't know. How much time did you all get?

When I got my MM506 (my first pump), I only got an hour or two of training (can't remember exactly how long of a time frame, since it happened in 1996). The rep came and showed me the different infusion sets, taught me how to insert them and helped me get "hooked up." I was off with a sliding scale for foods (dependent upon blood sugar) and went out to eat a chicken salad. :) I remember that cause I called the doc to make sure I wasn't going to over-bolus! hehe

I also remember waking up in the middle of the night, as I was getting used to the new ticks (the 506 had a louder ticking noise) & alarms I'd sometimes hear.

Since then, the only "major" training I've had (a couple of hours) was with the 511. However, I was so into learning about the new gadgets that I literally trained myself before the class & when I went, got scolded (lol) for being ahead of the rest of the folks...basically had the new pump setup with basals & everything (before the teacher, even)...:o (sorry if it sounds like I'm bragging....don't mean to, it's just I'm so into the gadgets we have that I immerse myself in learning all I can about them. :nerd: )

[KritterMom]

I feel like a sponge right now because I am wanting to learn everything possible about the pump, and how to do it, and do it right. When I was in for my pre-pump visits, the dr. told me that I have a good understanding of the pump, and she was pleased with that. I was delerious with that, lol! I just hope I can retain the knowledge!

[kgm0612]

My pump trainer asked me to call her when my pump arrived. We set up a pre-pump meeting a couple of days later where we went over the manual. She wanted me to get familiar with how the pump worked by playing with the buttons. A week after that, we met at 10am to get me hooked up and pumping on insulin, not saline, and I was out of there by 12:30.

One thing she didn't teach me, and I didn't think to ask, was how to insert an infusion set manually. So you may want to try doing that in front of her.

Karen

[KritterMom]

So far about all I can do is take all the stuff out of the boxes my pump and supplies came in, put them on the bed and look at the pump and say "Pretty Purple Pump", lol. Just feels like there is so much to learn. I have been reading/skimming the books that came with it, that should help some. I think once it's on and I'm wearing it, it won't seem like rocket science, but right now it does! Thanks for everyone's help!:egg:

[Mitochondria]

My pump arrived in the mail and then I set up an appointment to have a pump trainer come out to my house. She basically went through all of the menus with me and then quizzed me on how to do certain things that she had described. After that she had me fill the resevoir, attach the line and put in my first infusion set.

She had me testing my blood sugar about 8 times a day for the first two weeks. I would call her every afternoon and she would change my basal rate or carb ratio based off the results.

The nurse was very nice. I never minded calling her and we talked about life in general sometimes not just about the pump or diabetes. It turned out that her and my wifes mom started there careers together and hadn't talked in years. I think they are e-mailing each other now. :)

[JanTx]

Does your manual have a set of exercises? If so, work through those. Which pump did you get - my "Pretty Purple Pump" is the MM722. If yours is MM then go to their site and work through the online pump school. (Other brands may have that also.) You can actually do the drills on their with the pump - you can't hurt it - it's set up to play with before you start using it. The more you know the more you'll get out of your training session. Mine was around 3 hours also. Left with the phone number of the trainer, but never used it. Had a follow up visit a week later and then a month after that. I've also been to a MM pump class. Those can be found on the mm site also.

[poodlebone]

I was trained by my CDE and it took maybe 2.5 - 3 hours. She told me to follow the Minimed Pump School online, and to watch the CD-ROM that came with the pump. I had seen the dietitian two months before I started pumping, but it was totally unrelated. The pump wasn't suggested until the following month.

I also have gone to a couple of classes that Minimed offers, but those were after I already had the pump.

[JanTx]

Before pump went to MM's introduction to pump therapy class. After pump - about 3 weeks - went to Advanced Pumping.

[KritterMom]

I have taken a few of the MM classes, and plan on going to more after I get the pump, and get used to the idea that the pump isn't out to get me, lol. They put on some good classes.

[KritterMom]

I'm pretty sure that my "pretty purple pump" is a 722. It is a Minimed, and it says 7xx series, so I figured it was either a 715 or a 722. The more I read, the more I think it is a 722.

[aeromarv]

I met with a trainer for about an hour. Spent the whole time listening to her talk about everything I had already read in the manual and on minimed's website. Spent about 5 minutes putting in my first infusion set, then I was out the door and on my own! I touched base with her and my educator almost daily for the first week or so until the basal rates were looking good. Then I was reduced to me educator only, who has been great btw.


To tell if yours is the 722 or 715, look on the back. On the right hand side is REF in bold letters. If your pump is the 722, it will say REF MMT-722xxx

[Cyborg]

I received 3 hours in-home training and went right to insulin, no saline. Then I received 30 days of training consisting of phone calls and faxes to help me learn how to fine tune my pump. I really liked that about Animas...