PRELIMINARY EXPERIENCE WITH THE INTERNET RELEASE OF AIDA - AN INTERACTIVE EDUCATIONAL DIABETES SIMULATOR

This paper overviews the Internet release of AIDA? a freeware interact ive educational diabetes simulator. Since its release on the World Wid e Web as a non-commercial contribution to continuing diabetes educatio n over 14000 people have visited the AIDA Web site-http://www.diabetic .org.uk/aida.htm-and over 5000 copies of the program have been downloa ded, without charge. User responses thus far have been very encouragin g. Example feedback and clinical experience reported by two insulin-de pendent (type 1) diabetic patients, a patient's carer, the father of a diabetic teenager, a diabetes doctor and nurse educator, an endocrino logist and a postgraduate educator are presented. While such anecdotal , qualitative assessments are worthwhile and form a necessary step in the overall evaluation process-they are clearly subjective in nature a nd fully recognised as such. Given this, definitive outcome measures a re highlighted as being required for the next stage in the evaluation process, and various objective evaluation criteria are proposed. A gen eral protocol for the evaluation of interactive educational simulation tools, like AIDA, with patients is described and the concept of apply ing this in multiple centres-as a way of increasing study sample sizes -is discussed. It is highlighted that such a protocol could also be us ed to objectively compare a number of different interactive educationa l diabetes simulators. Clinicians who are interested in collaborating by enrolling patients into such a study are invited to contact the aut hor, by email, at aida@globalnet.co.uk. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Irel and Ltd. All rights reserved.