Telemedical outpatient clinic visits for diabetes patients
Cases of patients with Diabetes Mellitus has doubled over the last three decades. Studies have shown that insulin pump treatment has led to significantly better blood sugar control which reduces the risk of serious complications, including cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, eye diseases, etc.
PROJECT PERIOD
Start: 1 September 2020
Slut: 31 August 2023
Research shows that treatment centres with many insulin pump patients have a lower complication rate and achieves better blood sugar control than smaller centres with fewer insulin pump patients. But if you gather the patients in the larger centres, the patients will consequently have longer travel distances, more travel time and more general inconvenience. This may result in some patients not starting their insulin pump treatment, even though they can reach better blood sugar control and thereby fewer complications. The longer travel time can also result in patients waiting longer before contacting health care staff in case of technical or medical problems. Telemedicine might be the solution for this problem.
AIM
The aim of the project is to study three different aspects of changing ambulant clinic visits to video consultations for patients with type I diabetes using insulin pumps.
The three aspects will be:
- the medical perspective
- patients and health care professionals’ perception of the solution
- the number of sessions and the socioeconomic aspect.
The project’s study design is a 12-months clinical experiment where the participants are either offered their usual treatment or a telemedical solution. The participants in the telemedical group will continue their treatment as usual, but carry out their ambulant clinic sessions (both planned sessions and emergencies) by the means of a video solution. The participants are adult diabetes patients who have had treatment with an insulin pump for at least six months.
After the 12 months, the two groups will be compared in regards to their blood sugar control. Some of the participants will be interviewed with a semistructured interview. Likewise, the health care staff in the ambulatory will be interviewed in the same way. Furthermore, the participants will be asked to fill out questionnaires about their quality of life and their satisfaction with the treatment.
The PhD project will not only provide a solid foundation for eventual implementation but hopefully set a standard for future projects with the purpose of implementing telemedicine in daily clinical practice.
PARTNERS
The project is a PhD project by Anders Nikolai Ørsted Schultz. Read Anders’ publications.
The main supervisor is medical consultant Frans Brandt Kristensen. Consultants Georg Bolig and Professor Robin Christensen are co-supervisors.
The project is carried out at Sygehus Sønderjylland.