Portable Insulin Pump (Essay Sample)

Portable Insulin Pump
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The human body requires insulin to metabolise blood sugar and maintain the levels within a safe range. Very high blood sugar levels result in body poisoning and may cause damage to organs like the eyes and kidneys. Normally, diabetics are treated with daily insulin injections. The number of injections is usually between two and three. However, this mode of treatment is not effective because the blood insulin levels peak sharply immediately after an injection and keep dropping until the next injection is administered (Pierson). It would be desirable to maintain the blood insulin levels constantly closer to those of non-diabetic people.
A portable insulin pump is a machine that is used to deliver insulin to the body only when the body needs it. In doing so, it helps maintain constant insulin levels in the blood. The insulin pump has a blood sugar sensor. Blood sample from the patient is fed into the blood sugar sensor. The sensor then passes the blood sugar parameters to the blood sugar analyser for analysis (Diabetes UK). These parameters help determines the level of sugar in the blood. The blood sugar level is then used for insulin requirement computation. Insulin requirement computation is the process of determining if the blood sugar level is too high and an insulin injection is required to lower it or not.
The results of insulin requirement computation are then passed on to the insulin delivery controller. This controller is the one that manages insulin delivery by the insulin pump. If the results of insulin requirement computation necessitate an insulin injection, then the insulin delivery controller commands the insulin pump to inject the patient with the correct amount of insulin (Blake). If the insulin requirement computation results do not necessitate an insulin injection, then the insulin delivery controller instructs the insulin pump to skip insulin injection. The insulin pump also displays information on the blood sugar levels on a screen.
The portable insulin pump function...