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Diabetes Connections | Type 1 Diabetes
SweetSpot Wants to Turn Diabetes Data Into Better Care
00:31:45
Managing diabetes data can feel overwhelming, especially when every device speaks a different language. What if your care team could see it all in one place—and have a diabetes educator checking in between visits? This week, we’re talking about ,...
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- [00:05]
A
This week on Diabetes Connections. Managing diabetes data can feel overwhelming, especially when every device sort of speaks a different language. What if your care team could see it all in one place and have a diabetes educator checking in between visits? This week we're talking about Sweet Spot, a platform that hopes to make everything easier for the doctor and the person with diabetes. This is a big new trend in diabetes care. We're talking about how it works, who cares, pays for it, and a lot more. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your healthcare provider. Welcome to another week of Diabetes Connections. I'm your host, Stacey Sims. I'm always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. And if you are listening as this episode goes live, we are headed to Minnesota tomorrow. Mom's Night Out Minneapolis is happening this Friday and Saturday, September 19th and 20th. This is going to be a big one. I think it's the most jam packed Mom's Night out yet. If I'm going to see you there, I cannot wait to see you. If you're thinking about going, it's a little late, but you know, reach out. We'll figure it out. This is our 10th mom's night out event and I'm still so nervous before each one. I want everyone to have an incredible time. I want them to form friendships and stay in touch after the event. But I'm also so, so excited and thrilled that it's happening. Phoenix is up next October 24th and 25th, so please join us there if you're anywhere in that area. Four cities on the list for next year. Head on over to the Moms Night out page@diabetes-connections.com to learn more and sign up for city specific alerts and announcements. I also want to let you know that I'm involved in an event that is not just for people with diabetes. It is the Health Podcast Summit. This is a first of its kind event and it is focused on the intersection of health and podcasting. I have known since 2015 that podcasting is an incredible way to reach a community, to help kind of create a community and to get good information out to people who really need and want it. But I also think that health podcasts need to be looked at very differently, mostly from, frankly, the host and production side. Because we're not out here just talking about movies or throwing our opinions around about what we ate yesterday. This is important stuff. We're getting out information that needs to be sourced. And if you do not have a medical healthcare provider background, you need to disclose that anyway. I go into a lot more of that during my presentation, where I'm also talking about the ethics of even having commercials in your show. If you do a health podcast, this is a free and virtual Summit. It is October 1st and 2nd and you can sign up. I'll put the link in the show notes, but it is all one word. HealthPodcastSummit.com Again, it's free and it's virtual and there's a lot going on here. Okay, let's talk about Sweet Spot. Sweet Spot says it combines a centralized software platform for managing diabetes device data. You know, such as information from CGMs and insulin pumps with wraparound clinical support services. I don't know about you, but there's a lot of people in my life and in Benny's life who think that now that he has an automated insulin delivery system that it is truly automated, right? You put insulin in it, maybe you charge it, you change out the site, and then it does all the work and you never have to look at it again. And while I know there's one or two of you out there listening who have created systems like that, they're not commercially available yet. And there are a few of these groups that are looking at the situation in diabetes right now and saying, you know, people are only going to their endocrinologists three times a year, sometimes four times a year. But it really is getting less and less and they don't have support services. Nobody's looking at the numbers in between. How can we help? How can we change that? So I'm talking to Jodi Hughes about this. She is the Director of Diabetes Education and Clinical Services for Sweet Spot. She is a certified diabetes care and education specialist with more than a decade of clinical experience in diabetes technology. And she understands that while this might be a fantastic service for some, there are others who want to manage their diabetes on their own and barely want to see the endocrinologist again. I'm thinking of a few of you in this audience. This was a great conversation and we'll get to it right after this. Diabetes doesn't always have to interrupt your day. Dexcom G7, a continuous glucose monitoring system, sends your glucose numbers to your phone or receiver. Know where you are and where you're headed without finger sticks and without interruptions. Dexcom G7 is the most accurate CGM, and it's covered by Medicare. Learn more go to diabetes-connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo finger sticks required if symptoms or expectations do not match readings. See user guide for instructions. Data on file must meet coverage criteria. For full prescribing information on risks and benefits, visit dexcom.com Jodi Hughes, welcome to Diabetes Connections. Thanks for joining me.
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B
Well, thank you so much for having me. We're really excited to be here.
- [05:15]
A
Yeah. Let's just start out. Tell me a little bit about what sweet spot is. What do you do?
- [05:20]
B
Yes, no, great question. So, you know, we've only been around for, you know, about three years now, so still relatively, I feel like new in the landscape. But I think what we are doing is something really innovative and really, you know, forward thinking as far as diabetes care is concerned. So, you know, there are other platforms out there and sweet spot really is what I think of as, you know, a platform, but also this clinical service component. So sweet spot from a platform perspective is a way to integrate diabetes data across multiple devices.
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C
Right.
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B
So think about, you know, a practice having one dashboard, one login to view all of their patients, right. Whether they're on Medtronic or Tandem or Omnipod, Dexcom Libre, Eversense and so forth down the line, one login to be able to see all of their patient information. But I think what we really do differently as opposed to other maybe like platforms that have some of those devices on there, is we hire diabetes educators and I'm one of them myself, who actually uses the platform.
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C
Right.
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B
So we're able to look at that patient data, reach out to the patients, make sure that, you know, if there's anything that's concerning that jumps out about their data, that someone is intervening and in a really proactive way to be able to hopefully optimize their diabetes care. And all of our recommendations, all of those conversations that we have with patients get sent to their provider for their approval for their oversight. So it's really a way to monitor our patients living with diabetes in between those visits because as we know, I mean, endocrinology appointments are far and few between at times and obviously there's a shortage of endocrinologists right now in the scope anyways and we need a way to best be able to take care of those patients living with diabetes.
- [07:09]
A
So I'm always interested when I hear about services like this because as you said, it sounds different, but there's a few of these out there right now. But let's take the example of my son who we've gone to the endocrinologist every three to four months since he's two years old, so that's like 18 years now. Although he goes a little bit less frequently, I think, now that he's over 18. But unless we have a problem, we're not talking to them in between those visits. So is this something where, like you said, you're a diabetes educator. Would you be pinging people? Like, would you give us, like, a monthly checkup? Here's what's going on. Or, you know, how does it work?
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B
Yeah, no, absolutely. So, and what you just described is, you know, exactly what we see and we hear from when we talk to endocrinology offices is, you know, we don't necessarily look at patient data unless they call, they message in the portal. Something is going on that they're reaching out to us.
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C
Right.
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B
And a lot of times, I mean, I'm sure that it's, you know, obviously in pediatrics a little bit different. Hopefully, you know, they're. They're more involved, if you will, but not always the case. You know, a lot of times, families or a patient themselves don't want to reach out to an office for a slew of reasons.
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C
Right.
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B
They don't want to be bothersome, or they don't want to feel like they're a burden, or they don't want to make a big deal out of whatever was going on with their blood sugars. And that's really the. The opposite of what we're trying to accomplish with Sweet Spot is, you know, typically, yes, someone's data is looked at every month, so every 30 days. However, it would be looked at more often if there was a clinical, necessary reason to look at it. So we're looking at, you know, time spent, low blood sugar, something that would be different than usual for a patient. You know, a big change or even gaps in data.
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C
Right.
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B
If someone hasn't uploaded data in, let's say, a week, that's going to prompt us to reach out to them. Hey, what's going on? Are you out of supplies? Is there an issue with your app? Are you disconnected? Did you switch from Dexcom to Libre? And, you know, you ran out of samples or whatever that might look like. So we're really trying to catch any issues before, you know, the office would have to be involved or, you know, sometimes an office may only find out about an issue at the visit.
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C
Right.
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B
Because, you know, you come in and say, well, yeah, I have been having some lows overnight. Well, we could have tackled that a month ago.
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C
Right.
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B
I mean, that's not something that someone needs to be struggling with. If we can intervene and you know, nip it earlier than that appointment would come up.
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A
Got it. So I'm laughing because I'm just thinking about my son who's in the completely, like, leave me alone stage of diabetes, right? At 20 years old, he's like, oh, this sounds horrible. You know, how do you. How do you talk to patients who say, wow, this sounds like a good idea, maybe for somebody else, like, I'm okay. Leave me alone. Because I think part of that, and I really shouldn't answer the question myself, but it kind of seems to me like this is how we've always done it, but maybe if you are newer diagnosed or people just kind of get used to some more touches, I'll let you answer.
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B
Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I think, you know, there's always going to be people who do not want those frequent touch points.
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C
Right.
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B
And again, the nice thing is when we consent a patient into our diabetes remote monitoring program, all of this information is shared with them.
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C
Right?
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B
So if they say to us, hey, you know, I love that someone's going to be looking at my data every month, but I don't necessarily need them to call me. Like, could you send me, like, a text message or a portal message? Or can you only call me if there's something really, like, urgent that you feel like we need to adjust or change? And that's their prerogative.
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C
Right.
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B
There are also going to also be patients who don't feel like this is the right fit for them, and that is a. Okay as well.
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C
Right.
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B
So their. Their data will still be looked at, you know, their visit with their provider. I will say that, you know, we try to, you know, paint the picture.
- [10:49]
C
Right?
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B
So imagine there's always going to be things that are out of our control.
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C
Right?
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B
So even, you know, with your son, think about, like, any times that there was an illness and blood sugar was affected or a vacation and blood sugar was affected, or we wanted to effectively plan for what that might look like if he was at a camp or something like that.
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C
Right.
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B
More activities. Summertime with, you know, schools being out. Those are the type of things we want to be able to talk about, is you may not need us every single month, but there will likely be a time where you would have maybe appreciated someone reaching out and saying, hey, I see that blood sugars are, you know, different than normal.
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C
Right.
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B
We're having a lot more ups and downs. And they mention, oh, well, I was put on steroids or I've been sick with, you know, a sinus infection for the last few weeks. And we can talk about that in real time.
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C
Right.
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B
What are the situation that we're dealing with right now and how can we improve? It doesn't need to be a forever change, but a lot of times, those are the type of questions and concerns that we have too.
- [11:46]
A
Yeah. What works about this? Talk to me about, you know, success that you've had.
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B
Oh, absolutely. So we actually just finished some clinical studies that we did for Sweet Spot, and I think it's, you know, I was looking back to see, you know, when someone starts on a CGM or when someone starts on an insulin pump. You know, we. There's research to show, like, what's our average time and range that's gonna be improved for this patient?
- [12:08]
C
Right.
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B
So we're thinking about just data points. And if you look at the research. So, like, when someone starts on a CGM, there's normally like a 10 to 15% change in the first few months. When someone starts on an insulin pump from something like MDI, there's normally about a 10% improvement in time and range in those first couple of months. If we take out all of those.
- [12:25]
C
Right.
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B
These are for people who are not new for a cgm, are not new on an insulin pump, are just enrolled in the Sweet Spot program. We saw that in about four, six touch points.
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C
Right.
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B
So that's probably. Yeah, you know, let's say four or five months. Touchpoints are, you know, conversations with an educator. We had a 10% on average improvement in time and range. So when you think about that as being almost similar to starting on a new technology for diabetes, it's really amazing.
- [12:55]
C
Right?
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B
I mean, we expect that from an insulin pump. We expect that from starting a continuous glucose monitor. We don't necessarily expect that from just education and touch points and feeling like someone is a support system for you.
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C
Right.
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B
That you have that clinical expertise. I mean, I've had patients tell me that they felt like they had a personal diabetes expert in their pocket. You know, they were. They knew to expect our call. They knew to expect our messages. You know, and sometimes, you know, it's. It's that conversation. So we call them. They know exactly what I'm calling about. They're like, oh, no, I know. You saw that I was low on this day, and it was a compression low, or, you know, I just recently changed to this medication, and, you know, I. I've really seen a big improvement, but can you explain how it works to me?
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C
Right.
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B
So, you know, a lot of times it's those questions and that kind of deep dive that unfortunately can't happen at a visit, right? There's only so much time those providers have with their patients, whether they would, you know, I'm sure they would love to spend more time, but that's just not the, you know, the environment that we live in. However, patients still benefit from that, right? I mean, we've had, we, we recently had a patient and we have a blog post about it, and I can always send it to you if you want. But her time in range jumped from 1%, 1% to 57% after a few months of working with their educator through Sweet Spot. And this was all due to basically engagement, making sure that she was taking her medications appropriately, making sure she understood what medications she was on and what they were actually doing in her body. And because a lot of times that's not talked about, right? I mean, you pick up a new prescription from the pharmacy and we're like, I don't know what this is going to do, right? Like, why am I prescribed this? Are there any side effects? You know, there's so many things that can't be talked about at a visit. And these really in between touch points are what makes a difference, I feel like, in that active engagement in that diabetes management. Because really what we're trying to do at Sweet Spot is empower the person that's living with diabetes, right? We want them to understand their data, we want them to understand how to get the most out of their devices, and we definitely want them to be experts on their medications that they're on, how they're taking them, why they're taking them, you know, side effects. I mean, that's the most important person to have that information.
- [15:11]
A
Maybe I should have led with this, but who pays for this? Right back to our conversation. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to to you by Omnipod.
- [15:25]
C
Did you hear the pod drop?
- [15:35]
A
Did you know all the sounds used to make that song come from a site change with the Omnipod 5 automated insulin delivery system? Pretty cool, huh? With Omnipod 5 pump site changes are simple. The pod lasts up to three days, 72 hours. And to change it, you just fill up the pod with insulin, place it on your body, tap a few buttons in the Omnipod 5 app, and you're ready to go. There's no tubing to prime like with traditional insulin pumps, and it's virtually pain free, so you never have to see or handle the insertion needle. Want to try Omnipod 5 for yourself? Request a free Omnipod 5 starter kit today by visiting omnipod.com diabetesconnections Talk terms and conditions apply, Eligibility may vary.
- [16:23]
B
It's a great question. So the nice thing about Sweet Spot and you know, remote patient monitoring in general is it's an insurance benefit. So the codes that we bill or generate through Sweet Spot are insurance covered CPT codes. So the wonderful thing about this is, you know, cms. So Medicare has, you know, decided and then insurances kind of follow suit after, you know, CMS decides things that these programs, right. A remote patient monitoring program is valuable to them.
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C
Right.
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B
They know that that's going to reduce their admissions to hospitals, reduce those ER visits or those, you know, dangerous events that can happen. So they're willing to pay for it.
- [17:03]
C
Right.
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B
They're willing to pay for these in between touch points to ideally prevent a larger event from happening. So it's really a win win.
- [17:11]
C
Right.
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B
So patients are paying for insurance, they have this insurance benefit. It's just not always being utilized.
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C
Right.
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B
I mean if you could have someone calling you and helping you through any medication changes or you know, just being that ear to listen about what's going on with your diabetes and help you with your management and insurance is going to help cover that. You know, it's really like an underutilized service, I think.
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A
Let me talk about you for a second, Jodi, if I could.
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B
Yeah, please.
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A
So what should you do before Sweet Spot?
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B
So I'm a dietit, before I was a diabetes educator. So I've worked in inpatient hospital setting as a dietitian for medical nutrition therapy. And then I went outpatient. So I did outpatient dsmt. So diabetes, you know, self management education and at a diabetes accredited program. And then I worked in industry after that for a insulin pump company. So doing education on insulin pumps, teaching providers, teaching patients how to use their devices and really I think that was where I saw the gap that was needed that Sweet Spot filled, you know, so many times even working for the manufacturer, someone starts on an insulin pump and there's only so much follow up that you're allowed to do.
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C
Right.
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B
And then it falls back on their provider. Well, as we know, you know, a lot of providers, offices don't have support staff, they don't have diabetes educators, they don't have pump trainers that are there and that person falls through the cracks. I mean I, I have had people that I trained on an insulin pump five years ago reach out to me because they didn't know who else to reach out to.
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C
Right.
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B
Like hey, I had this issue or I had this concern and I Wasn't sure where to go.
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C
Right.
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B
I have your number saved. You trained me X amount of years ago, and I know that you would have the answer. And while I'm thankful to be able to have that relationship with the people that I have started on insulin pumps, there needs to be a better way.
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C
Right.
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B
I mean, there needs to be monitoring in between visits with provider oversight.
- [19:05]
C
Right.
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B
This endocrinologist needs to be signing off on any pump changes or, you know, adjustments that are needed, looking at that patient data, because we want to make sure that the patient is up, the first and foremost safe.
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C
Right.
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B
If they're having any issues, we want to make sure that they're safe, but we also want to make sure that they feel like they are supported.
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C
Right.
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B
I mean, I think there's probably, and I don't know if your son is on an insulin pump or has been on one in the past.
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A
Yeah, yeah, he's on. He uses the T slim. He's. He's been on insulin pump since he was two years old.
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B
Okay. Yeah. I think, you know, most pediatrics get started on a, you know, CGM right away and then a pump kind of shortly after.
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C
Right.
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B
But I've even seen it in the pediatric population, whereas, you know, they're trained on the pump and they may have the most wonderful trainer in the world, and they follow them for a little while, but then, you know, that's kind of it.
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C
Right.
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B
I mean, there's only so much follow up that can be handed in that way, and then it goes back to the provider. And if your provider is not routinely looking at data in between visits or doesn't have the support staff, it's really hard to titrate those settings. It's really hard to optimize their diabetes care, especially as someone is aging.
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C
Right.
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B
I mean, needs at 2 years old and needs at 18 years old are very different.
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C
Right.
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B
And we need to be looking at that, you know, as that continuum changes. And I just, you know, there's a big gap there where sweet spot is really trying to help.
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A
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Well, you know, as you know, Jodi, there are just gaps everywhere.
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B
Oh, for sure.
- [20:26]
A
Right. I mean, it's. It's incredible. But to your point, it's funny, you were making me think I have kept the phone numbers and contacts of, you know, educators and trainers and people we've met along the way because it's just easier.
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B
Absolutely. And if you had an issue with his tandem, that would probably be the first person you would reach out to.
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C
Right.
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B
Like, it might have been 10 years ago that they changed, they trained him. But, you know that that person is likely going to be able to help you, right? And, you know, there's. There's just such a gap in the quality of care for diabetes. And obviously, the prevalence of diabetes continues to rise, and along with a shortage of endocrinologists, which really creates a problem of access to care and really making sure that patients are able to receive the support that they need to have their diabetes properly managed.
- [21:14]
A
So how do people know if their doctor is using you? Is that something where they would just call their endo and say, hey, I heard this on a podcast. Are you using.
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B
Yeah.
- [21:23]
C
No.
- [21:23]
B
I mean, absolutely, right? So I think, you know, if you're. If your office is using Sweet Spot or a program, you know, similar to Sweet Spot, hopefully you would know about it, right? Because that would mean that you're getting calls. You have an educator that, you know, that is, you know, supporting you. However, there are definitely, you know, new practices that start a program that, you know, this patient hasn't been opted in yet. So, you know, I would say if you're a patient that's listening and you feel like, wow, this would be something I think would really help keep me on track. This would be great to have an avenue to ask questions, to need troubleshooting help. You know, all of the things that we can offer. You may want to just let your provider know that this option exists and that you feel like you could benefit from a program. And they could always come to our website and we could start a discussion. I think, you know, if you're a diabetes educator that's listening too. We'd love to talk to you about how Sweet Spot can make a difference. I think, you know, as a diabetes educator myself, I love Sweet Spot's ability to advocate for our profession, because I do think what we do is so important.
- [22:22]
C
Right?
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B
I mean, it's something that isn't always, like, cost effective, right? There's, you know, there's not a lot of billable things that the diabetes educator can do, even though I think, again, what we do is so, so valuable. But this is a way to. To get that access, right? Is, hey, there are these codes out there that insurance will pay for, that we know from clinical studies, improve patient care and patient satisfaction. Can we start a program like this?
- [22:50]
C
Right.
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B
I mean, it's very rare that insurance covers or pays for something that really has patients best interest at heart.
- [22:56]
C
Right?
- [22:57]
B
I mean, it's unfortunate to say it like that, but it's true. I mean, and this is something that, again, not just our clinical studies, but if you look at clinical studies for a diabetes remote monitoring program, the research is there, right? I mean, there are so many initiatives to maximize, you know, how we can provide care in an RPM program is one of those ways. And I think educators would really, you know, be able to advocate for a program like this and advocate for their patients, right? Like, hey, let's give them the best care we possibly can and talk to them and educate and help them in between those visits. Because, you know, sometimes you can't get in for six months, right, with your endocrinologist. And that's a lot of time to.
- [23:32]
A
Go by talking to the patients in this program. What are some of the changes you suggest? Like, it's one thing to say, oh, I noticed you were low and it was a compression low, or hey, you know, maybe you had an illness and so your blood sugar went higher than usual. But what are some actionable things that you tell people that seem to come up over and over again?
- [23:50]
B
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. So, you know, there was a patient recently who was spending 17% of her time in low blood sugar, but she had hypoglycemia, unawareness. So even though she wasn't feeling that she didn't have symptoms, she in her mind wasn't concerned about it, which is why she had not reached out to the office about it. But she was flagged on our clinical priority system. And Honestly, a quick 20 minute call with her uncovered that she was not taking her insulin correctly. She was not sure which was her long acting and which was her rapid acting insulin. She was getting them mixed up. As you can imagine, this is going to be a huge increased risk for hypoglycemia. And after one education call with her, her hypoglycemia dropped to 3% and her confidence soared.
- [24:33]
C
Right.
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B
I mean, she now fully understood her medications and which ones she was going to take and how they worked and when they peaked and when they were out of her body. And all these super important components again, sometimes get missed at an appointment, especially if it's a new medication for someone. I will say a lot of the other recommendations that we have are if someone is having a lot of hyperglycemia, right, if they're, let's say, new on an insulin pump, they may need carb ratio adjustments to make sure that they have better coverage for certain meals. They may need a different target at different times of the day. If they have different hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia events that are occurring during the day. They may never have had education on how to use an activity feature or an exercise feature. So many of that is just trying to get the most out of the technology that they're using, making sure that every component of it has been properly explained to the patient. But it also is recommendations for medication adjustments.
- [25:26]
C
Right.
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B
So if someone is on, you know, Lantus for their long acting and their fasting, blood sugars are not in their target range every day, and we see a pattern of that, a recommendation might be to, you know, adjust that until we get into that target range.
- [25:39]
A
So I have to say, Jodi, my podcast audience tends to be, you know, super engaged in diabetes. Anyway, if you're listening to a diabetes podcast. Right. That's a whole other level of involvement.
- [25:50]
B
Yes.
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A
And so while, you know, no one's perfect, everybody makes mistakes. I'm curious what you think a service like this offers to patients who are already really engaged, like, who have their doses dialed in, who are, you know, micromanaging their diabetes day by day, hour by hour?
- [26:10]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think for someone like that, this is really gonna be, like, situational behavior, food, like, really going granular and talking about, like, the nitty gritty, Right? It could be like, hey, on Saturday, I saw that my blood sugar spiked at dinner, and that doesn't normally happen for me. This is what I had, right? This is the dose I took. This is what I bolused for. And we could really talk about that in detail.
- [26:33]
C
Right?
- [26:33]
B
Okay. Well, you know, could we have changed to a, you know, higher fiber, complex carbohydrate? Could we have added more protein? Could we have started with our protein food and then moved to our carbohydrate food? Could we have done, like, a split dose or an extended bolus type of thing? So I think there are, you know, you're meeting them where they're at, of course.
- [26:52]
C
Right.
- [26:53]
B
So for some people, it's pretty cut and dry, right? Like, hey, we just started on this medication. We're figuring it out. We're figuring out the right dose, and then there's someone else who, hey, I've been on this pump for 10 years. My settings are looking great. I don't normally have issues, but there are times when some type of situation throws me for a loop, right? What should I do when I'm traveling on a cruise for, you know, a week next month? What should I do if I have to get a steroid shot in my back because I'm having pain? You know, what should I do. If I going to be running a marathon next week, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think those are the type of questions when someone is really dialed in for insulin doses or their pump settings. And we're not necessarily looking at those, like, big shout out issues.
- [27:37]
C
Right.
- [27:37]
B
Like, this is an obvious, glaring problem that we need to fix is could we trade out some foods for some. Some other options? Could we look at the menu for some of the places that you typically go to and, and figure out the carb count for them? Could we look at healthier options or could we look at different ways to kind of lower that glycemic risk? So I think, you know, there are different things that you might talk about with different patients depending on, you know, their diabetes journey.
- [28:01]
A
As a diabetes educator, I'm going to ask this. I don't know why, as a diabetes educator, is this rewarding work for you? I mean, you've done different, you know, aspects of the job before. I'm curious what you think of doing it this way.
- [28:15]
B
Yeah, I think because I have seen in the past the gaps in care.
- [28:20]
C
Right.
- [28:21]
B
I mean, there's something, of course, wonderful about working inpatient, but then patients go home and, you know, you don't know what happens to them. There's also something wonderful about working outpatient where you're seeing someone for like multiple classes and you're getting really involved in them. However, that benefit is once a year and you may not see them for another year.
- [28:36]
C
Right.
- [28:36]
B
And then on the insulin pump training side, like I've talked about, it is very rewarding to see huge successes very quickly. However, you don't follow those patients long term. So with Sweet Spot, what I have found is it's like a marathon, not a sprint.
- [28:51]
C
Right.
- [28:52]
B
So you're kind of adding elements of education or, you know, diabetes management every single month. Right. You're kind of like on this continual journey with them where it's not like, okay, by tomorrow we need to have X, Y and Z completed. It's, you know, I'm going to be following up with you regularly every month.
- [29:09]
C
Right.
- [29:10]
B
So I get to see the amazing benefits that happen and the improvements that happen, but I also get to support you through the times that are not so great. You know, I have definitely had patients share with me. I'm calling because of a blood sugar concern, but what I find out is that they had a death in the family or that they lost their job or that their child has been sick or something like that.
- [29:28]
C
Right.
- [29:29]
B
And yes, I'm calling about how we can manage diabetes during that time, but I also become someone that they feel like they can talk to in that way as well. So I've found that it is very rewarding, not only because I see the, you know, tremendous improvements and, you know, the life changing ability that Sweet Spot has, but it's also nice to be able to support those patients because I just don't feel like all the time there is an avenue to have that.
- [29:54]
A
Well, Jodi, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate the information and definitely follow up. I'd love to know more about how this goes and, you know, how Sweet Spot grows. But thanks for joining me.
- [30:04]
B
Yep, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.
- [30:11]
A
More information about Sweet Spot if you just head on over to diabetes-connections.com you know, every episode has its own homepage over there on the website. And I know I talked about Benny not wanting to get a lot of information during this interview, but it really is the case of how he's managing right now at almost 21 years old. Oh, my goodness. And he's gonna tell people about it in Minneapolis this weekend. He is one of our panelists on the Ask Me Anything panel that we do on Saturday. Am I nervous? Oh, yes. Am I gonna record it anyway? Sure. Will you hear it? Let's see what happens. I promise I will not not air it just because if I don't approve of something Benny says. I just like to give all the panelists the option of keeping these conversations private or editing out if they share something that they just want to keep in the room. You know how that goes. But so far, we've been able to share a lot of these panels from Mom's Night out, and I hope you enjoy them. Please let me know what you think. I wish some of this stuff could be viewed by everybody, but bringing the audio to you after is really the best way for me to do that. All right, thank you to my editor, John Buchenis from Audio Editing Solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Sims. I'll see you back here next week. And until then, be kind to yourself.
- [31:31]
B
Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacy Sims Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged.