MongoClient multiple connections using Node.js

I want to create a module for NodeJS to connecto to MongoDB. I've seen that the new, better approach is to use MongoClient, but I can't get to know how can I make concurrent operations on the database. The goal I want to achieve is to have functions to abstract the database, like the following:

exports.insertItem(item){

     //Whatever

}

According to the docs, I am supposed to connect to the database this way:

MongoClient.connect("mongodb://localhost:27017/integration_test", function(err, db) {

  //Do stuff on the db object

});

The problem is how I am supposed to reuse the db object if it's not in a scope I can use to export functions in node? Am I supposed to make a MongoClient.connect() on every function that deals with the DB?

You make a single db connection and reuse it everywhere

A typical pattern for modules is

export.myinsert = function(db) {
  return function(whatever) {
  }
}

and then do

require('mymodule')(db)

Have a look at an example

https://github.com/christkv/tic-tac-toe-steps