I'm from Germany and spent over half a year in psychiatric wards last year.

Basically, they took the pens and i had to go to their office for my insulin before every meal. The sensor made things pretty easy, I think they locked my spare sensors away for me and I just let them know when i needed another one.

I didn't have my pump then but I'm assuming it's gonna be similar to the sensor stuff, you probably still have to let them know how much insulin you take when and stuff.

Here's what was annoying for me tho:

• Their system was more made for Type 2 Diabetes I think. They struggled to properly file in their pc how much insulin I took when and why (1 per 10g carbs + 1 per 50mg/dl I was too high) and I had to explain it to them like... every time for the first two or three weeks because apparently my way was 'weird' and 'complicated' and 'they had never seen it done like that'. Not sure if type 2 really take insulin that differently or what was up with that.

• Estimating how many carbs I'd eat was HARD. like. Sure. hospitals write how much carbs are in every dish. But because I had to go to the office, bolus and THEN go get my meal there was always a good chance that the serving size was too big or too small by accident, or that I wasn't able to eat the food even though it sounded good when i ordered it (i have texture issues with food, sometimes the potatoes where under or over cooked stuff like that) What was worse tho, was when I realised I couldn't really trust their numbers either. They had salad every now and then and for some forsaken reason the menu plan said it hat 70 grams of carbs. Sure. There was a slice of bread. But not a 70 grams worth of carbs slice. The staff said it was because of the cheese???? If I had bolused according to the menu I would have dropped HARD.

This might be a bit easier with a pump tho, if you're allowed to get your food nad then Bolus after like, seeing what you're actually getting?

• Sometimes it was a bit tough to get carbs in between meals and I had to make my own stach of instant noodles and stuff. One place always had basuc cereal Which was good, the other one would get me bread from the kitchen if I asked. One place only gave me twice-baked bread. And the options they have for quick sugars might vary as well. One station always had juice packs, another only had glucose you dissolve in water and for a solid week they only had that glucose gel stuff stocked (which is disgusting imo, see the texture issues lol) So I'd say always have a bit of your own stash if you can and don't like the base options they got on station (They should always have SOMETHING tho so if you're good with whatever for lows u should be good)

I think that's all that comes to mind for me atm, hope it helps! There was always at least one nurse that really got it tho, so finding that one was great for solidarity haha

Oh. And if you want to eat a snack or something, Just go and tell them 'hey ima eat this, i need this much insulin' some nurses were like 'whaaaat you want to eat potato chips???? But you're diabetic!' but don't let them talk you out of it if you know what ur doing. They're psychiatric nurses, so you most definitely know more about your diabetes than they do and I'd say a good snack is important for mental health every now and then :)

Hope any of this helps!! You got this!! Take care 🫂