Wednesday, May 23, 2012

iBG Star Diabetes Manager App Review

The iBG Star Diabetes Manager App is pretty fantabulous. I specifically love the cleanliness of the input (even without using the accompanying meter).


I feel like the statistics screen shows me the most important data a PWD can ask for - standard deviation (thank you!!!), averages, and total number of tests!
And I like the clean, color-coded logbook screen. (Pardon my numbers. YDMV.)

So, needless to reiterate, I love their app, but there are three suggestions I had to make - 2 of them critical to pump users. I called Sanofi today and attempted to give them my feedback. I think the customer service rep understood my concerns. She didn't realize that the app could be used independently of the meter though, so I have questions about how clearly she understood these idiosyncrasies.

1. How I Pump Insulin

The current edition of the app does not allow me to indicate my basal insulin or an adjustment to that dosage (a temp basal). It also doesn't allow me to indicate an extended bolus.
From a logging perspective, I want to be able to look back and see how I adjusted my basal rate before/during/after activity like exercising. Or how I managed my insulin via extended bolus the last time I ate pizza.

2. Tagging

While this app is one of the first I've seen that allows me to customize the time for what I consider pre-breakfast or post-lunch, the provided tags are not enough for me. I can't edit or customize them according to my logging needs.
For instance, if your daughter has an afternoon snack every day, you can tag her blood sugar level as post-lunch or pre-dinner, but you can't add a tag called pre-snack.

For me, I take a fasting/waking BG level as soon as I wake and often add a small bolus of insulin for my morning coffee. Then, an hour or more later, I take a pre-breakfast reading. I currently have no way to tag my fasting reading with the provided tags.

3. Insulin Increments

The iBG Star Diabetes Manager App allows for insulin dosages in either 1 or 0.1 increments.
My pre-breakfast dosage this morning was 3.15. When I input this into the provided field, it rounds up to 3.2.

For those of us using insulin pumps (like the Omnipod) that allow dosages to the .05 measurement, this rounding up gives false data to my team as they review my data. In a pediatric patient, 0.05 units can be a sizable discrepancy in their logging. For me, it's just an annoyance.

Despite these concerns, I plan to continue using the app and will probably purchase the meter if I ever stop using the onboard glucometer on my Omnipod PDM.

Disclaimer: Sanofi Aventis did not solicit this review in any way. I have no connection with the company and received no compensation for this review. This post reflects my own opinions of the product.

3 comments:

  1. i personally didnt like the graph either because it didnt connect the dots, and also i would love if it had a site tag because then i could spot if a site didnt work well, i was also slightly concerned when it tested higher. i would like if there notes could be the user typing something in

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    1. Agree with all of this wholeheartedly. I can't make sense of the graph without lines. Site placement - excellent suggestion.

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  2. I've always loved this app. You don't find it cumbersome to input? It's probably the easiest one out there, and before starting DexCom I did the input, but then I stopped since I deferred to the Dex graphs. Although I haven't been using that for a while bc it's not Mac compat. I think I need to start looking at some numbers...

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