Objective: Usability of a new prefilled insulin pen, FlexTouch® (FT; Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark), with no push-button extension and low injection force, was compared with vial and syringe (V&S).
Research design and methods: People with diabetes, and healthcare professionals with diabetes management experience conducted test injections and answered questions on preference, ease of use, confidence, ease of learning and teaching.
Results: The study involved 30 needle-naïve patients (naïve to any diabetes injection therapy), 30 V&S-experienced patients, 30 physicians and 30 nurses. In the total population, FT was preferred to V&S for teaching or learning to use (both p < 0.001). Nurses (100 vs. 0%) and physicians (87 vs. 7%) preferred FT to V&S for ease of teaching. V&S-experienced (73 vs. 7%) and needle-naïve patients (83 vs. 7%) preferred FT to V&S for ease of learning. The remainder chose "equally easy/difficult." More participants in each group rated FT "very/fairly easy" for ease of depressing the push-button/plunger (FT vs. V&S: physicians, 93 vs. 80%; nurses, 97 vs. 80%; V&S-experienced patients, 93 vs. 90%; needle-naïve patients, 100 vs. 77%), and injecting three doses. More participants were "very/rather confident" in managing daily injections using FT (FT vs. V&S: physicians, 100 vs. 60%; nurses, 100 vs. 70%; V&S-experienced patients, 93 vs. 90%; needle-naïve patients, 90 vs. 40%).
Conclusions: FT was rated easier to use, learn to use or teach to use than V&S by patients with or without experience of insulin injection with V&S, and by physicians and nurses with diabetes management experience.