TELEMEDICINE FOR DIABETES CARE - THE DIABTEL APPROACH TOWARDS DIABETES TELECARE

Telemedicine is modifying classic al health care by providing effectiv e solutions to an increasing number of new situations. This article su mmarizes the potential benefits made available by this technology in d iabetes care, and describes in detail how the new DIABTel Telemedicine Service complements the daily care of diabetic patients. The basic fu nctions of the telemedicine system include telemonitoring of patient's blood glucose data and self-management actions, and remote care from doctors to diabetic patients. The system's architecture comprises two main components: the Medical Workstation, a PC-based system to be used by physicians and nurses in Diabetes Day Centre units in hospitals, a nd the Patient Unit, a palmtop-computer to be used by patients in thei r day to day activities. Both components, in an integrated approach, o ffer tools to doctors and patients for data collection and management, viewing and interpretation modules, data/message exchange services an d an interactive glucose/insulin simulator for educational purposes. T he DIABTel telemedicine diabetes care procedure aims: (1) to improve c ommunication of the patient with the hospital-based diabetologist, in between the patient's visits to the clinic; (2) to anew doctors to ass ess the patient's condition on a frequent basis (every week); (3) to h elp patients with management in the daily care of diabetes, and (4) to provide patients with a service of 'supervised autonomy', to increase patient's independence without decreasing the necessary continual sup port and supervision from the doctor. Finally, we discuss the practica l problems, limitations and vital issues regarding implementation of t he telemedicine service.