Remote monitoring blood glucose in patients with gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is defined as the new onset or recognition of glucose intolerance in pregnancy. Evidence supports tight blood glucose regulation to prevent adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Finger-prick, home blood glucose (BG) monitoring remains the most common method of monitoring diabetes control in pregnancy. With changes to GDM screening criteria and socio-demographic changes, the number of women with GDM is predicted to rise in the UK.
Increasing Clinical Demand
In response to the increasing clinical demand for GDM services, a novel, real time, smartphone based BG monitoring system (app) was developed in collaboration with the Oxford University Institute of Biomedical Engineering. This application has enabled transmission of labelled BG results to a secure website within the NHS, allowing a diabetes care team to monitor patient BG readings and provide diet and/or treatment advice between hospital appointments by SMS or phone call as required. Further information can be found on the GDm website, located under the useful link section
Progress to date:
The Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) project has been fully deployed into the below partner organisations. The use of the GDm technology has continued to grow since initial diffusion in October 2014.
GDm-health is a system for the management of diabetes in pregnant women. Whereas conventional gestational diabetes monitoring involves the use of a paper diary and regular visits to the clinic, GDm-health allows secure and remote communication between women and their healthcare team with fewer clinic visits.
GDm-health has been tested in over 1,000 patients, showing a 26% reduction in clinic visits, when evaluated at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust. The time spent by the diabetes midwives on clerical and administrative tasks also decreased by 50%.
In early 2017, Drayson Technologies, Oxford University and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust signed three agreements to collaborate on the development, testing and future commercialisation of three clinically validated digital health products arising from research undertaken by engineers and doctors at Oxford University and the OUH Trust, GDm-Health was one of these digital health products.
Partners
Related Links
Gestational Diabetes Application Website
Trial protocol to compare the efficacy of a smartphone-based blood glucose management system with standard clinic care in the gestational diabetic population.
Development of a Real-Time Smartphone Solution for the Management of Women with or at High Risk of Gestational Diabetes
Digital blood glucose monitoring could provide new objective assessments of blood glucose control in women with gestational diabetes
Acceptability and user satisfaction of a smartphone-based, interactive blood glucose management system in women with gestational diabetes mellitus
Comments are closed.