The square wave bolus is a feature of the MiniMed 507 pump and can be easily mimicked with a MiniMed 506 pump using the temporary basal rate feature. Other pumps, however, do not have a square wave option and it would be cumbersome, at best, to try to duplicate it. To truly mimic a square wave, the pump must have a temporary basal rate feature which allows the user to specify the length of time for the temporary rate. The Disetronic HTRON V100 and HTRONplus V100 pumps as well as the MiniMed 504 pump handle temporary basal rates in a manner which doesn't allow the user to set the duration. Trying to program a square wave with these pumps necessitates changing the programmed basal rates to an artificial level and then (hopefully) remembering to set them back at the end of the time for the square wave. This is potentially dangerous, as the risk for hypoglycemia is quite high if the user does not remember to, or is unable to, set the basal rate back to normal. If you wish to achieve a square wave effect with these pumps, you could administer several small boluses manually over the desired length of time until the total bolus amount has been given.
For example: (Not recommended).
If a bolus of six units of insulin were to be administered over a one hour time period, you could program a bolus of one unit every 10 minutes, or, a bolus of one and a half units every fifteen minutes. At the end of one hour, the total six units will have been delivered.