IMPORTANT PUMP FORMULAS

Following are formulas to be used in day to day Insulin calculations. These may vary from patient to patient but provide a guide to a beginner.

1. Insulin Carbohydrate Ratio (ICR) also called as Carb factor -

When 500 is divided by Total Daily Dose of Insulin [can be seen in Pump], then the grams of carbohydrate which will be neutralized by 1 unit of insulin can be calculated. Feeding this information to Paradigm pump is must for using Bolus Wizard.

For example :

if a person's total daily insulin dose is 50 units then his ICR would be 500/50 = 10, this means that 10 grams of carbohydrate would be neutralized by 1 unit of insulin.

2. Correction Factor: 1700 Rule -

When 1700 which is divided by Total Daily Dose of Insulin, and then we can get the mg of glucose level which would be lowered by 1 unit of insulin.

Thus -

Correction Factor means: mg of Glucose, lowered by 1 U of Insulin.

For example:

if a person's total daily insulin dose is 50 units then his Correction Factor would be 1700/50 = 34. This means in this person 1 unit of insulin will lower blood glucose by 34 mg. For more Insulin sensitive patients it may be 1800 Rule While for less Insulin sensitive 1500 Rule will be more appropriate.

3. Estimating Correction Bolus -  On the basis of Correction factor, a pump user may calculate correction bolus amount of Insulin.

For Example:

If Current BG is 220 mg/dl, and Correction Factor is 50 mg, then

Correction Bolus will be:

4. Converting mmol to mg of Glucose - Glucose in mmol can easily be converted to mg/dl using the following formula

Mmol x 18 = Blood Glucose in mg/dl

For Example:

11 mmol Glucose in mg will be: 11 X 18 = 198 mg/dl.