Remote Patient Monitoring in Diabetes: How to Acquire, Manage, and Use All of The Data

The ability of patients and health care providers to use various forms of technology for general health has significantly increased in the past several years with the expansion of telehealth, digital applications, personal digital devices, smartphones, and other Internet-connected platforms and devices. For individuals with diabetes, this also includes connected blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitoring devices, and insulin delivery systems. In this article, the authors outline several steps to facilitate the acquisition, management, and meaningful use of digital diabetes data that can enable successful implementation of both diabetes technology and telehealth services in primary care clinics.

7. Diabetes Technology: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2022

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) “Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes” includes the ADA’s current clinical practice recommendations and is intended to provide the components of diabetes care, general treatment goals and guidelines, and tools to evaluate quality of care. Members of the ADA Professional Practice Committee, a multidisciplinary expert committee (https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-SPPC), are responsible for updating the Standards of Care annually, or more frequently as warranted. For a detailed description of ADA standards, statements, and reports, as well as the evidence-grading system for ADA’s clinical practice recommendations, please refer to the Standards of Care Introduction (https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-SINT). Readers who wish to comment on the Standards of Care are invited to do so at professional.diabetes.org/SOC.

Diabetes Technology Experiences of Young People Living with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and their Parents: Hybrid Theoretical Foundation Guided Analysis

Background. An important strategy to understand young people's needs and preferences regarding technologies for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) management is to examine their day-to-day experiences with these technologies. Objective. This study aimed to describe T1DM youth and their caregivers' experiences and preferences regarding insulin pumps, sensor technologies, and related communication technologies based on a hybrid theoretical foundation, as well as to describe derived ideal device characteristics. Materials and Methods. Sixteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with young people with T1DM and their parents about their diabetes technology use. A combination of data-driven thematic analysis in a first stage, and theory-driven analysis in a second stage was used to incorporate in-depth study analysis and existing theoretical literature. Relevant literature included technology adoption (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology/UTAUT) and value sensitive design (VSD) models. Based on this approach ideal device characteristics for young people with T1DM were summarized. Results. Initial themes derived from the interviews included aspects of diabetes self-management, device use, and specific device-related technological characteristics and feelings associated with the specific device types (continuous glucose monitoring, insulin pump, flash glucose monitoring). The interview data delivered information congruent with all UTAUT and VSD factors except for one (privacy). Discussions around ideal diabetes devices focused on reliability, flexibility, and automated closed loop systems that enabled an independent and normal life for adolescents, and alleviated parental anxiety. However, in line with the previous systematic review, the interview analysis showed that reality deviated from these expectations, with inaccuracy problems reported for continuous glucose monitoring devices, and technical failures occurring in both continuous glucose monitoring devices and insulin pumps. Conclusions. UTAUT and VSD approaches were found useful as a combined foundation for structuring our study findings. Technologies for diabetes self-management require continual advancement to meet the needs and expectations of young people with T1DM and their caregivers. Understanding their experiences, as well as challenges with the devices, enabled us to identify theory-supported ideal device characteristics that can be useful in the designing and developing of improved technologies.

Green Diabetes Summit 2021

On July 21, 2021, Diabetes Technology Society convened the virtual Green Diabetes Summit. The event consisted of 23 representatives from key stakeholder groups based in both the United States and Europe. The purposes of the summit were to (1) provide background on the complexity of addressing sustainability-related issues, including waste management, of diabetes devices from many different perspectives along the products’ life cycle stages, and (2) determine the feasibility and role of a coalition of stakeholders to find solutions, particularly in the design, use, and proper disposal of diabetes devices used in home care that no one stakeholder can resolve on their own.