Open AccessDiabetes clinic reinvented: will technology change the future of diabetes care?
Author(s) -
Marwa AlBadri,
Osama Hamdy
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
therapeutic advances in endocrinology and metabolism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 2042-0196
pISSN - 2042-0188
DOI - 10.1177/2042018821995368
Subject(s) - telehealth , medicine , digital health , diabetes mellitus , telemedicine , multidisciplinary approach , diabetes management , health care , disease management , medical emergency , documentation , nursing , intensive care medicine , disease , type 2 diabetes , computer science , social science , pathology , endocrinology , sociology , parkinson's disease , programming language , economics , economic growth
Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects nearly 463 million people globally and involves multiple co-morbid conditions that require effective treatment and continuous management. These include lifestyle and behavioral modifications, compliance to diabetes medications and close patient monitoring, all of which can be efficiently conducted via telehealth. Integrating digital technology of telehealth and mobile health into diabetes care may improve diabetes management and increase its efficiency. In this review, we examine recent advances in healthcare technology of diabetes. Moreover, we present an example of a comprehensive virtual diabetes clinic, the “Joslin HOME,” as an innovative digital ecosystem for future application in diabetes care. This model utilizes digital health technology and comprises frequent short visits with easy two-way scheduling, focused documentation and simple billing methods. In this new model, a multidisciplinary team is connected with their patients using telehealth and mobile health to overcome the barriers of distance and location. It may possibly extend quality diabetes care to remote, underserved or rural areas.