Dexcom

KKEGS, MSN, RN · Feb 1, 2018

This has been a discussion in and among many school districts in our area also. Some districts have decided they will have nothing to do with the CGM including monitoring it at school. The parents are the only ones to monitor it remotely. Other districts have issued cell phones to their nurses for monitoring purposes. Others use iPads at the school. In my district I think we only have 1 student who is monitored at school on the clinic issued receiver not a cell phone. All of the others are monitored by only their parents. We have 10 diabetics at our high school and several each at most of our other 12 buildings so monitoring them all would feel like a little telemetry unit in our health office! We have already decided that we would deny a parent request to put the app on a personal cell phone.

Supernrse01, BSN · Feb 1, 2018

One of our kids in the district has a smart watch that links with his dexicom which is super cool. They use that number for treatment at meal times

So they don't fingerstick? My little still does a fingerstick before dosing, because often, his dexcom is off a little.

AdobeRN · Feb 1, 2018

2 of mine have the dexcom but I do not have the app on my phone. Occasionally I will get a call from the parent asking me to check on student since they were alerted to a low BG - most of the time the kid is already in my office checking BG and being treated.

OyWithThePoodles, RN · Feb 1, 2018

What am I missing? My T1D kiddos have a receiver that gives a reading every 5 minutes or so and alert with highs and lows. It has to stay within 20ft of them I think.

Do your students not have this and that's why there's an app?

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2018

What am I missing? My T1D kiddos have a receiver that gives a reading every 5 minutes or so and alert with highs and lows. It has to stay within 20ft of them I think.
Do your students not have this and that's why there's an app?

The app basically sends another person the updates as well. So a parent can monitor, for example. The Dexcom itself has a very low alert noise for a HIGH reading or LOW on that cannot be turned off. For example, I have a student that has HIGH set at 400 and LOW at 50 or lower for that alarm setting. A person with the app can also see this.

There are two "dummy" apps out there that one can download just to see how the dexcom work without having a dexcom or having it link to student. Just search dexcom in app store.

Thus far, I've learned it can be close 80% of the time and when it is off, it usually by a lot, though. For example saying BG is 230 when FS is 410. But is a good tool for students that can be asymptomatic with highs and lows and riding the BG roller coaster that puberty can start.

guest940422 · Feb 1, 2018

It should work the same way getting your work email on your personal phone does. Most managers choose to install the hospital secure email to their personal phones (they can also deduct their phone bill if they do this) but in order to install the app, their phone has to be password protected with the same password requirements as the work computers. So every time you open your phone you have to put in a 10 digit password with uppercase, lower case, a number, and a special character. Considering the number of emails they get in a day they say it is worth it.

For Dexcom if you can put the app up on a different device (is the app available on the school's computers?) and password protect it the same way it might be less of a pain.

Marneyrn · Jul 30, 2019

Does anyone have a policy for using the Dexcom on a district-issued Ipad? I am thinking liability..... I was thinking even needing a parent signed consent that it is a monitoring tool and the nurse may not always "have her eye" on the Ipad. Thoughts.....

SugarHigh · Aug 23, 2019

On 7/30/2019 at 10:08 AM, Marneyrn said:
Does anyone have a policy for using the Dexcom on a district-issued Ipad? I am thinking liability..... I was thinking even needing a parent signed consent that it is a monitoring tool and the nurse may not always "have her eye" on the Ipad. Thoughts.....

THIS is why my district does not allow nurses to monitor the Dexcom readings on a personal phone or even a school device.

What if the nurse is dealing with another student, the connection lags/malfunctions, there is an emergency they am attending to, etc? Our district will not accept responsibility for the nurse to monitor the student's readings for a constant 7 hour school day. The nurse would immediately be deemed liable should glucose readings go bonkers because we have access to the readings the entire time, despite what other things are occurring around us.