Hybrid pump is also called self-regulated or smart pump. Slightly misleadingly, it is also sometimes referred to as an “artificial pancreas”. The hybrid pump delivers the basal insulin independently on the basis of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). Some hybrid pumps can also deliver small doses of correction bolus. The pump reduces the insulin dose when blood sugar goes down and increases the dose when it goes up.
To begin with, the device is used for 1–2 weeks in manual mode, in other words, the dose is determined similar to other pumps. After this, the dose is based on the user’s personal insulin therapy information as well as the pump’s algorithms.
The user continues to estimate the carbohydrates in their food and enter the meal information in the pump, which then suggests a suitable bolus dose. Calibration measurements from the fingertip are done daily upon the pump's request for calibration (depending on the device model), and the data collected by the device are regularly uploaded to the cloud service by the user.