Health Practitioners’ Use of an Open Message Board for Dialogues with Young Diabetes Type 1 Patients
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Abstract
Background:
Management of paediatric diabetes type 1, including frequent insulin injections and intensive self-control of blood glucose, is part of everyday life. The treatment has to be performed by the young patients themselves, along with their guardians, gradually and over time becoming their own experts.
Through the varying phases of the disease trajectory they are guided by paediatric diabetes teams, consisting of nurses and nurse specialists, physicians, dieticians, social workers and/or clinical psychologists. The practitioners meet young patients, along with their guardians, when hospitalized at onset, and continue to see them quarterly or more often as outpatients over many years. Regular appointments in the clinic and telephone contact when needed are the traditional means of communication.
Objectives:
To what extent and by what means may specialized pediatric diabetes health practitioners deliver medical advice online?
Methods:
Since 2008, the practitioner-driven open Swedish web portal diabit.se targets children and adolescents with diabetes type 1. The portal is funded by the healthcare providers - County Councils. The service includes an open message board moderated by young people with diabetes, and monitored by specialized health practitioners.
As a new pilot project, the message board simply has been expanded with a special section for â€Ask a practitionerâ€. A group of networking practitioners volunteer as moderators, aiming to respond in maximum one working day. The practitioners’ responses show their real names, professions, affiliations and photos in the message board whereas young patients, parents and others use anonymous alias. Due to the format, a single response from one practitioner may grow to a thread with comments of other practitioners and of any other user as well.
Results:
The open message board format worked well. The posts were relevant, respectful and reflective without any sign of abuse. Practitioners found their participation meaningful and time-efficient. Page visits counts for the â€Ask a practitioner†- threads grow continuously. Thread examples from the pilot period are presented.
Conclusions:
The unique questions and following open dialogues add value to the web portal. Information systems where both patients and health professionals engage show a potential for improvement of care - offering users the best of both worlds.
More on this project in JMIR:
http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e12/
http://www.jmir.org/2010/2/e17/
http://www.jmir.org/2012/6/e154/
Management of paediatric diabetes type 1, including frequent insulin injections and intensive self-control of blood glucose, is part of everyday life. The treatment has to be performed by the young patients themselves, along with their guardians, gradually and over time becoming their own experts.
Through the varying phases of the disease trajectory they are guided by paediatric diabetes teams, consisting of nurses and nurse specialists, physicians, dieticians, social workers and/or clinical psychologists. The practitioners meet young patients, along with their guardians, when hospitalized at onset, and continue to see them quarterly or more often as outpatients over many years. Regular appointments in the clinic and telephone contact when needed are the traditional means of communication.
Objectives:
To what extent and by what means may specialized pediatric diabetes health practitioners deliver medical advice online?
Methods:
Since 2008, the practitioner-driven open Swedish web portal diabit.se targets children and adolescents with diabetes type 1. The portal is funded by the healthcare providers - County Councils. The service includes an open message board moderated by young people with diabetes, and monitored by specialized health practitioners.
As a new pilot project, the message board simply has been expanded with a special section for â€Ask a practitionerâ€. A group of networking practitioners volunteer as moderators, aiming to respond in maximum one working day. The practitioners’ responses show their real names, professions, affiliations and photos in the message board whereas young patients, parents and others use anonymous alias. Due to the format, a single response from one practitioner may grow to a thread with comments of other practitioners and of any other user as well.
Results:
The open message board format worked well. The posts were relevant, respectful and reflective without any sign of abuse. Practitioners found their participation meaningful and time-efficient. Page visits counts for the â€Ask a practitioner†- threads grow continuously. Thread examples from the pilot period are presented.
Conclusions:
The unique questions and following open dialogues add value to the web portal. Information systems where both patients and health professionals engage show a potential for improvement of care - offering users the best of both worlds.
More on this project in JMIR:
http://www.jmir.org/2009/2/e12/
http://www.jmir.org/2010/2/e17/
http://www.jmir.org/2012/6/e154/
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