I Wish Blood Glucose Meter Companies...

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Permalink Reply by Scott E on March 17, 2009 at 6:32am

I wish for....

1) a backlit screen and an LED to light up the spot where the strip goes in. This way, I don't need to turn the lights on to test in the middle of the night, I know how much blood I've got, and I don't put strips in backwards and upside down.

2) self-coding strips. put a barcode or something on the strip that calibrates the meter. When I run low on strips, I take the few remaining strips in the vial and combine them with the next one, so I only need to carry one vial with me. But I can only do that when the codes are the same.

3) (for my OneTouch UltraMini) a full dot-matrix display rather than the 7-segment number display. Since I often hold the meter in my right hand and bleed from my left, the meter is upside down. Upside down, a reading of 95 looks like a 56 .. and a 56 looks like a 95. Both can be really dangerous when misread.

4) shrink the size of the "kit", not just the meter. A tiny meter is pointless if I still need to carry a roll-of-coins lancer device and a film-cannister test strip vial.

And while you're working on the kit....

5) give me a (somewhat sanitary) place to deposit used test strips

But #1 is, by far, the highest on my list.

---
As a related, slighly selfish aside, I'm an electrical engineer looking for a line of work that I can be passionate about. If an actual meter manufacturer (or aspiring manufacturer) needs design help, please contact me!

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Permalink Reply by Emmy on March 17, 2009 at 9:58pm

The new Freestyle mini has a backlit display and a light where you put your test strip in, and the strips do not have to be coded, so that's two of your wishes fulfilled by Freestyle. Just thought you'd want to know.

They also have a fairly tiny lancing device in their newer kits.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Woodward on March 17, 2009 at 7:40am

As I age arthritic loss of dexterity and the skin on my fingers no longer has any 'grip'. The slipping out of a test strip from the container is frustrating at best. A strip dispenser would be a welcome improvement!

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Permalink Reply by Chyrisse Arnold on March 17, 2009 at 11:07am

I like the idea someone had about helping third world countries. The meter companies should donate a portion of all sales to provide meters and strips to those who cannot afford them. I know they make a killing of off the supplies we buy. I paid $45 for 10 strips to test blood ketones with presionxtra meter and the next day i went to a diabetes expo and a rep there gave me 2 boxes for free. It almost killed me that she gave away something that I just paid $45 dollars I don't think they cost very much to make.

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Permalink Reply by Ixnay on March 17, 2009 at 11:27am

I wish my meter could interface with my Mac.
All the software I've ever seen was for PCs!
Yeah, and what about those meter bags/packs?
My meter is tiny, why do I have to have a thing three times its size to crry it around in?
Whine whine whine.
In the meantime, I too appreciate how far technology has brought us that these are the things I must whine about!

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Permalink Reply by Amy on March 17, 2009 at 3:36pm

my wish list!

1) universal test strips. I have so many meters that I have been given since 2006 that its confusing when getting strips. It would be nice to go to the drug store and say you need test strips and not have to remember which meter you are using!

2) recyclable test strips please. I HATE wasting waste. I break down my boxes and put them in the recycling bin and the little bottles too. But test strips I hate wasting especially when the machine gives me an error message.

3) health insurance companies oh maybe COVER more meter companies machine. I have to use the contour one because Masshealth (still pending by the insurance company) doesn't cover any of the others and I love the freestyle one better. So I'm stuck using the contour.

4) How about packaging the meters in a smaller box. Do you really need to put all that crap in a HUGE box???? Seriously

5) bring the cost down man. I can't afford to spend 45 dollars in co-pay let alone figure out which brand is cheaper

6) how about making your meters our of recycling products. So the meter can be environmentally friendly?

I can't think of anything else really.

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Permalink Reply by Criselda Allorina on March 17, 2009 at 10:27pm

I wish you can figure out a way to sell test strips for cheaper.

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Permalink Reply by Albert Chen on March 25, 2009 at 7:17am

It seems like those who can, already do sell it for cheaper....
...and those who don't, don't do it because they know people need to buy them anyways.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Oliva, RRT RPFT AE-C on March 18, 2009 at 7:49pm

i wish they would put real reasons why sugars are what they are "Site failure" "forgot to check sooner" "They lied and gave me real coke" and Please put a lite in meters that go along with the pump. In the middle of the night it is nice to not wake up the room with turning on the light and seeing the strips.

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