Diabetes systems: wireless mobility wins

The telephone is not simply for calling anymore. A recent study says that patients prefer mobile and wireless ehealth solutions like this one, rather than having to log on to a stationary pc. But the system has to be effective, or the users will abandon the system. Photo: Jan Fredrik Frantzen, NST

It is crucial that people with diabetes come to understand the relationship between their diet, physical activity and the development of their blood glucose. For example, the healthier your diet, the better your body controls the blood glucose levels.

To get a clearer picture of how to build self-help technologies that help diabetes patients understand this relationship, PhD student Naoe Tatara has searched through 39 studies that describe the success or failure of different technologies.

The crucial factor: Mobility

The studies examined show that mobile solutions are preferred by the users, whether they are using mobile phones or PDA's.

"Where both web browsers on PCs and mobile terminals are available for data entry, the mobile terminals are used for more than 90 % of total entries", Tatara writes in a recent publication.

So the patients must be able to bring the system with them everywhere they go, or chances are that you are less likely to use it.

PhD student Naoe Tatara. Photo: Jarl-Stian Olsen, NST

Wireless is king

Another key element important in ensuring that the system is used is that it is quick to use, although the amount of time people will spend on it will vary with how meaningful they think it is.

- The better the effect of the system, the more people are willing to spend time using it. The fact that users are spending time unnecessarily is a common complaint in the evaluation of diabetes ehealth-systems, Tatara says.

A third important element is that the transfer of blood glucose data from the meter to the phone or PDA should be automatic, without the patient having to connect the units by cable.

In other words, the less users have to do, the more likely they are to use the technology...

Contact information

PhD student Naoe Tatara, telephone +47 959 98 656 and email naoe.tatara@telemed.no

Scientific reference

A review of Mobile Terminal-Based Applications for Self-Management of Patients with Diabetes. Naoe Tatara, Eirik Årsand, Heidi Nilsen, Gunnar Hartvigsen. DOI 10.1109/eTELEMED.2009.14