Methods Inf Med 2006; 45(01): 79-84
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634041
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

The M2DM Project

The Experience of Two Italian Clinical Sites with Clinical Evaluation of a Multi-access Service for the Management of Diabetes Mellitus Patients
C. Larizza
1   Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Università di Pavia, Italy
,
R. Bellazzi
1   Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Università di Pavia, Italy
,
M. Stefanelli
1   Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Università di Pavia, Italy
,
P. Ferrari
2   Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, IRCCS Fondazione S. Maugeri, Pavia, Italy
,
P. De Cata
2   Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, IRCCS Fondazione S. Maugeri, Pavia, Italy
,
C. Gazzaruso
2   Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, IRCCS Fondazione S. Maugeri, Pavia, Italy
,
P. Fratino
3   Azienda Sanitaria Locale, Pavia, Italy
,
G. D’Annunzio
4   Clinica Pediatrica, Ist. G. Gaslini, Genova, Italy
,
E. Hernando
5   Grupo de Bioingeniería y Telemedicina, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
,
E.J. Gomez
5   Grupo de Bioingeniería y Telemedicina, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
06 February 2018 (online)

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Summary

Objectives: This paper presents a multi-access service for the management of diabetes mellitus patients and the results of its assessment in two Italian clinical sites.

Methods: The service was evaluated for one year in order to prove the advantages of these kind of systems from different points of view. In this paper the clinical, usability and technical outcomes are presented.

Results: The evaluation results show that, thanks to the high flexibility of the implemented service, the tele-medicine management of diabetes patients is feasible, well accepted by patients and clinically effective. However, in Italy the problem of quantifying the reimbursement rate of telematic services and the impact they have on the organization are factors that may hamper their introduction in routine clinical practice.

Conclusions: The evaluation study showed that the telemedicine intervention has been satisfactory both for physicians because it allows to constantly monitor the patients’ blood glucose level and for patients because it strengthens their motivation to self-monitor the metabolic situation.