M-HEALTH By PHARMAGEEK

After an initial diagnosis, diabetes sufferers often experience a period of shock when they learn that everything has to change. Turkish mobile operator, Turkcell, and agency R/GA London have created an app to make adjusting to the necessary life changes much easier.

 

Instead of trying to persuade sufferers to adopt entirely new habits, tools and behaviors to monitor the condition, "healthmetre" deploys Instragram, a tool many people already use and taps into behaviors that people already have.

 

 

R/GA designed healthmetre to be a more human way to manage diabetes and help patients develop new, more healthy habits in a way that feels natural and thereby, helping them reach a level of consistency.

 

 

The idea is to make using the app as simple as possible, helping people stay motivated, complying with treatment and keeping the lines of communication with medical staff open.

 

Diabetes is an increasing problem across the world and Turkey has been particularly affected. The most recent statistics (2014) from the International Diabetes Federation show that Turkey has the highest rate of the illness in Europe, with an incidence of 14.7%, much higher than countries like, for example, the U.K. (5.4%) or mid-ranked Germany (7.9%).

 

The results of the 18-month trial are highly encouraging. Treatment compliance increased by 54%. Blood sugar levels decreased by 27% and complication forecasts decreased by 37%.

more at http://www.fastcocreate.com/3047389/a-new-app-to-make-life-easier-for-diabetics-using-instagram

 

 

 

 

Via nrip, Rémy TESTON

Today's mobile apps are helping diabetics aggregate blood sugar and nutritional data from multiple platforms and devices and logging data into central portals accessible anywhere, according to Steve Robinson, general manager of the Cloud Platform Services Division for IBM.

The apps and snap-on smartphone monitoring devices are letting physicians integrate biometric data from wearables into patient data and analyze patient data at fast speed, Robinson writes at InformationWeek. The benefits are just as extensive as the functionality being developed, he says

The gains include everything from simplifying records and improving doctor-patient conversations to gaining a holistic view of a diabetic's health. Doctors can "crunch and analyze patient data at rapid speeds to help identify patterns and predict future health and treatment needs," he writes.

"Mobile apps can help diabetes sufferers get ahead of their symptoms and live healthier, more carefree lives," Robinson says. 

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Diabetes tools have ranged from providing smartphone coaching that is helping diabetics living in low to modest socioeconomic communities manage their disease and improving their health, to a wearable, automated bionic pancreas for continuous glucose monitor and a software algorithm, according to a study at the New England Journal of Medicine.

In addition, mobile monitoring of diabetic employees can save more than $3,000 a year in healthcare costs, half of the average annual medical insurance cost for workers diagnosed with diabetes. 

Today's tools and cloud-based capabilities are reducing those costs while also driving innovation for disease management, Robinson says.

"Using cloud services, combined with the ease and convenience of mobile, new methods of managing this disease are being brought to patients around the world," he writes.

For more information:
- read the article

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Via Celine Sportisse, DIRECT MEDICA by Webhelp, dbtmobile, Giuseppe Fattori, eMedToday

A lack of additional benefits and ease of use emerged as the key factors for the acceptance of diabetes apps among patients aged 50 or older

Via Anna Niemeyer, Olivier Delannoy, Celine Sportisse

Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, Vol. 7, Issue 1 Jan. 2013.

El-Gayar, Timsina and Nawar.

ABSTRACT

Background:
Advancements in smartphone technology coupled with the proliferation of data connectivity has resulted in increased interest and unprecedented growth in mobile applications for diabetes self-management. The objective of this article is to determine, in a systematic review, whether diabetes applications have been helping patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes self-manage their condition and to identify issues necessary for large-scale adoption of such interventions.
Methods:
The review covers commercial applications available on the Apple App Store (as a representative of commercially available applications) and articles published in relevant databases covering a period fromJanuary 1995 to August 2012. The review included all applications supporting any diabetes self-management task where the patient is the primary actor.
Results:
Available applications support self-management tasks such as physical exercise, insulin dosage or medication, blood glucose testing, and diet. Other support tasks considered include decision support, notification/alert, tagging of input data, and integration with social media. The review points to the potential for mobile applications to have a positive impact on diabetes self-management. Analysis indicates that application usage is associated with improved attitudes favorable to diabetes self-management. Limitations of the applications include lack of personalized feedback; usability issues, particularly the ease of data entry; and integration with patients and electronic health records.
Conclusions:
Research into the adoption and use of user-centered and sociotechnical design principles is needed to improve usability, perceived usefulness, and, ultimately, adoption of the technology. Proliferation and efficacy of interventions involving mobile applications will benefit from a holistic approach that takes into account patients’ expectations and providers’ needs.

J Diabetes Sci Technol 2013;7(1):247–262    

Via rob halkes