Diabetes Technology Mash Up - Beyond New Gadgets
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
On this very important day known as World Diabetes Day, I’m very pleased to announce the expansion of our Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) Staff at Healthcordia to include a past President of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) as well as several very experienced pediatric and adult Registered Dietitians. I would also like to salute all diabetes educators everywhere. Their job is often difficult, frustrating and sometimes rewarding. I see them as the people on the front lines of this terrible and growing epidemic who every year are becoming more and more outnumbered and with insufficient reinforcements filling their ranks.
In a twist on diabetes technology and diabetes care, two phrases not often mentioned in the same sentence, our CDEs work with patients remotely including access to our ADMS (Automated Diabetes Management System) and use email, chat, phone and even video conferencing to communicate with their patients enrolled in our modernized version of an annual diabetes management program known as HomeCheck-365.
When as a person with diabetes you’re doing all you can do and it’s still not enough, it’s time for a Shout-Out for guidance on nutrition, troubleshooting, etc… Many people with diabetes feel isolated and feel they don’t have anywhere to turn that’s convenient and also with an expert who is in a position to consider their health profile including an accurate history of blood sugar control. Our staff has been working on these programs with patients for many years now and we really believe this is what makes the difference between throwing technology at people vs. walking people through a process including CDEs who happen to access data automatically from patients who use leading edge technology. When you focus on technology by itself or diabetes education in isolation, you’ll come up short every time. However, by blending the two we are able to efficiently drive improved patient outcomes through behavioral change.
This program does not subscribe to the typical disease management approach of making scheduled phone calls to the patient only to run them through a checklist or survey. Rather, a HomeCheck-365 educator working with a technology-enabled HomeCheck-365 patient typically knows why the patient’s calling even before the call.
To borrow from a cliche, ‘If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always gotten’. So on this Diabetes Day of Days, my wish is for more people to truly think past the old ways of doing things and think smarter from the perspective of Outcomes. Stop thinking more technology or more office visits. Start with the end (outcomes) in mind then fill in the gaps with a plan to get there. That’s HomeCheck-365 working with patients in concert with their diabetes physician.
