Everything you need to know about Smart MDI

We’re so excited to share all you need to know about Smart MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) in this article.

We think it’s such a clever solution for those who are on insulin injections but want the convenience and peace of mind that a smarter dosing system offers. Read on for more!

What is Smart MDI?

The Smart MDI system takes the guesswork out of insulin dosing. It combines the power of Medtronic’s latest offering in continuous glucose monitoring, the Simplera sensor, with the InPen smart insulin pen. Together, they offer a system for recording your glucose readings, tracking and calculating dosages for meals, and the needed corrections. That all combines to make life with diabetes easier.

What is InPen and what is Simplera?

The InPen is a smart insulin pen, tracking your insulin doses and reminding you to inject if you miss a dose. This works with the InPen app, which provides vital data, such as when you last injected and how much of that insulin is still active. It uses all of that data to recommend insulin dose amounts, tailored just for you.

Simplera sensor is Medtronic’s newly released CGM that records your readings every 5 minutes and sends data to the InPen smart pen. This helps you understand your real-time glucose readings, trends and alerts directly from your InPen app. It’s a real-time CGM for anyone with diabetes aged 2 years and older.

Who is it for?

The Smart MDI System is for anyone on multiple daily injections (MDI) who wants to make sense of their diabetes management, and make it easier to manage diabetes in everyday life.

The InPen smart insulin pen is for people with diabetes who inject insulin. For those who don’t self-manage their diabetes, the use of the InPen should always be under the supervision of a caregiver.

How does it help?

Here are 10 ways that the Smart MDI system can work for you:

1. Tracks your insulin dose

The InPen app records every insulin dose delivered by the InPen – no manual logging is required. That means every time you inject, it remembers!

2. Tracks active insulin on board

Active insulin is the insulin that remains after your previous dose. By taking active insulin on board into account, correction doses are more accurate and much safer, because you’re less likely to crash after correcting too much.

3. Offers a dose calculator

The InPen app can recommend an optimal insulin dose, and it is even able to deliver half units if you need them. It recommends a dose by taking into account active insulin on board, and your insulin-to-carb ratio settings from your doctor. Don’t know how to carb count? No problem, they’ve thought of that too! You can estimate carbs as low / medium / high carb meals.

4. Offers missed dose notifications

The InPen app will ask if you’ve missed an insulin dose when it tracks your blood sugar rising fast. The missed dose notification is different to the high glucose alert because it offers exact dosing advice and only notifies you when you have to take action. If your glucose is high but there’s enough insulin on board to bring it down, it won’t alert you. That means less interruption in daily life!

5. Reminds you to take long-acting insulin

The InPen is only for rapid-acting insulin, but the InPen app still reminds you to inject your long-acting insulin, and tracks it for you.

6. Offers advice to correct high glucose

The Smart MDI system helps with alarm fatigue, by allowing you to tailor when your high glucose alerts should go off. You can choose how much of a correction dose is worth taking a shot for (whether that’s 0.5u for tight control or more, it’s up to you). It also won’t keep alarming if your glucose is high but it calculates that it will come down, given the insulin on board.

7. Alerts about temperature control    

The InPen alerts you if the insulin gets too hot or cold, via the InPen app. This is a major win for South African summers!

8. Reports to share with your doctor

The InPen app generates complete reports that show both CGM records and insulin doses, which can be accessed by your healthcare team, or sent to them ahead of your check-ups. So now when your doctor asks a very specific question about a certain day and time, you can know exactly what your blood sugar was doing, and how much insulin you took!

9. Pairs with Simplera sensor

Designed to work specifically with the Simplera sensor, the InPen is your primary logbook to log all your diabetes management decisions.

10. All-in-one solution

Smart MDI offers one app that tracks insulin doses, carbs eaten and blood glucose results. The InPen app pairs your CGM data and insulin data easily, using Bluetooth. Simplera + InPen = Smart MDI.

Have a look at a full review of the Smart MDI system by YouTuber Type One Talks here.

Find out more about Smart MDI

If you are starting the SmartMDI system, or interested in using it, it’s important to work with your doctor to determine your:

• Insulin-to-carb ratio
• Target range
• Active insulin time
• Correction factors

Interested in Medtronic’s SmartMDI system? Find out more here.

Sweet Life is an online diabetes community that empowers people to live healthier, happier lives through easy-to-understand information on healthy eating, exercise, mental health and the basics of diabetes. Join their community on Facebook and Instagram, access the Sweet Life Chatbot on WhatsApp and find answers to your diabetes questions on www.sweetlife.org.za.