DialBetics: Smartphone-Based Self-Management for Type 2 Diabetes Patients on Insulin Injections.

Healthcare providers lack the time to provide the continuous life-style education necessary for diabetes patients to gain enough skill in diabetes selfmanagement. We developed a real-time, partially automated interactive smartphone-based system (DialBetics)—combining IT and “natural language processing”—to interpret patients’ blood glucose, blood pressure, weight, exercise, and dietary content calculated from a message and photo of a meal sent by patients, and respond with communication of findings and advice, achieving diabetes selfmanagement. We examined safety, usability, and impact of a remote health-data monitoring and education system on self-management. Five patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited for a one-month feasibility study. The patients were provided with smartphone, glucometer, blood pressure monitor, pedometer, and weight scale. Patients’ measurements were automatically transmitted to a server; exercise and diet information with a meal photo were sent by patients. Patients had excellent compliance for measurements; patients’ interest in, and willingness to make, life-style changes improved by receiving real-time findings and advice from DialBetics. Considering the four-week time period of this intervention, results are encouraging in improving self-management. We also plan to assess the impact of DialBetics on patient HbA1c outcomes.