Bayer’s new Didget blood glucose meter can be plugged into a Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite system, which may encourage consistent testing as children can ‘win’ award points that can be use to buy items within the game and unlock new game levels. The meter offers two testing levels to grow with your child’s ability and testing routine. The L1 is basic model, which takes 5 seconds to do the test, needs only a small blood sample. Results are shown on a large screen, and no coding is needed.
The meter can store 480 blood tests in its memory, as well as give 14-day averages and 7-day HI/LO summaries. The more advanced L2 has all of these features, but can be personalized for blood glucose target range settings and has a pre- and post-meal marker to help children quickly identify tests taken before and after eating. A post-meal reminder can help children remember to test after meals at a time that works for their routine.
There is also access to 7-, 14- and 30-day averages. The Didget meter was developed in conjunction with Paul Wessel who has a child with type 1 diabetes. Paul noticed that although his son Luke was constantly losing his blood glucose meter, he could always find his Nintendo Game Boy!
