A grant-funded study at Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital in Stockholm has shown that changing to a mHealth care model for childhood diabetes results in higher satisfaction ratings from the participating medical staff, insulin-dependent children and parents.

The care model was centered on the TriabetesClinic for Children mHealth solution from Diabetes Tools, which has been in clinical use at the hospital’s diabetes unit since November 2015.

The study’s aim to establish a Proof of Concept for mHealth in childhood diabetes was achieved. The results were compared with a pre-study from April 2015 which assessed the paper-based workflow being used at that time. By so doing, the before-and-after surveys identified the following trends:

  • Workflow satisfaction ratings increased when staff used the digital TriabetesClinic service with on-ward tablet app compared with the paper forms used previously.
  • Time savings resulted from simplifying data gathering and communication procedures, which in turn gave higher efficiency ratings from the staff.
  • Parents, on behalf of their children, increasingly felt more confident when using the TriabetesGo smartphone app at home, with satisfaction levels well above the former paper-based process.

The study was funded by a grant from the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova. Stockholm’s Karolinska University Hospital via Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital was the study’s clinical partner and Karolinska Institutet was the academic partner.

Photo: Diabetes Tools Sweden AB