Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jun 22, 2020
Date Accepted: Jul 23, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jul 27, 2020
Virtual Consultations: Considerations for the Role of Technology During the Covid-19 Pandemic for People With Type Two Diabetes-UK Perspective.
ABSTRACT
The covid-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for people with diabetes, in addition to their high risk stratification for infection. Supporting people with diabetes to self-care has been critical to reduce their risk of severe infection. This global pandemic has presented an opportunity to digitalise diabetes care and rapidly implement virtual diabetes clinics, with the aim of optimising diabetes management and wellbeing, whilst keeping patients safe. We performed a rapid review of the literature to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of virtual clinics in diabetes care before and during the covid-19 pandemic, and have combined these findings with our own reflections in practice. We identified examples demonstrating safety and feasibility of virtual diabetes clinics, which aligns with our own clinical experience during the pandemic. The advantages of virtual clinics include reduced treatment burden, improved therapeutic alliances, societal and psychological benefits, and in our experience, innovative solutions to overcome the challenges presented by the transition from in-person to virtual care. We have provided three infographics to illustrate lessons learnt and key recommendations, including steps to establish a virtual diabetes clinic, a checklist guide for health care professionals conducting virtual clinics and a patient guide for making the most of the virtual clinic. It is important to continue adapting to this pandemic and make technology a sustainable option for the future of diabetes care.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.