User experience with the AIDA interactive educational virtual diabetes patient simulator.

THE PREVIOUS TWO “Diabetes Information Technology & WebWatch” columns have focused on the application of database systems in clinical diabetes care. In this column, and the next two, the focus switches to diabetes education and a topic close to my heart—namely the use of interactive educational diabetes simulators. One such simulator, called AIDA, which is available for download without charge from the Internet (from: http://www.diabetic.org.uk/aida.htm) has been previously described in detail elsewhere in this journal.1 In this column, various user experience with the software is documented, highlighting some of the different ways in which the simulator has been applied to date by patients with diabetes.