Digital technologies are transforming how patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) monitor and manage their disease. Technosphere® Insulin (TI) is an inhaled rapid-acting insulin that can improve glycemic control in adult patients with DM. BluHale V1.0 is a device that can be mounted on the TI inhaler to enhance patient training on proper inhalation technique. Trainers responsible for teaching inhalation technique to patients newly prescribed TI were surveyed to evaluate the utility of BluHale as a training tool.
Certified diabetes educators (CDEs) and medical assistants (MAs) involved in patient training for use of TI evaluated the usefulness of BluHale as a training device. Trainers assessed their level of confidence in their own training skills, before and after using the device, on a scale of 1 (not confident at all) to 5 (very confident). Additionally, trainers evaluated the level of confidence of the individuals they trained before and after the trainees used BluHale.
Forty-five trainers (CDEs, 49%; MAs, 51%) were surveyed. On average, trainers reported increased training confidence after they used BluHale (pre-use, 3.7; post-use, 4.6) and believed that trained individuals were more confident performing proper inhalation of TI after the trainees used BluHale (pre-use, 3.4; post-use, 4.7). Additionally, most trainers (80%) believed that BluHale use may reduce the time needed to train patients.
BluHale V1.0 is a useful tool that can enhance insulin administration training for patients prescribed TI, which may help patients be more successful when using TI.