From Clinical Endocrinology News, 17 December 2013:
MELBOURNE – Secure messaging can achieve similar outcomes in terms of behavioral goal achievement, self-reported health maintenance exam completion, and hemoglobin A1c level testing, compared with telephone and in-person support, new data suggest.
A study of different methods of diabetes self-management support found no significant differences in outcomes such as completion of foot and eye exams and HbA1c testing across the three follow-up methods at the 9-month follow-up, although there were some feasibility issues with the secure messaging service.
Presenter Deborah Greenwood told the World Diabetes Congress that the study arose out of a need to improve their ability to provide ongoing support for patients with type 2 diabetes.
“Because of the vast number of patients with diabetes, just trying to get people in for initial education is almost a barrier, so trying to add in ongoing support is a challenge,” said Ms. Greenwood, diabetes program coordinator for the Sutter Health Integrated Diabetes Education Network.
Ms. Greenwood said the use of secure messaging was an attempt to tap into the so-called e-patient phenomenon: the growing number of patients who want to use online tools to help manage their disease. Read more.
Bianca Nogrady 