Diabetes can be a debilitating condition. The excess sugar in the patient’s bloodstream can lead to numerous health issues like loss of vision, kidney problems, heart issues, and others. There’s no cure for diabetes, but with treatment and careful monitoring, you can help diabetes patients live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Remote Monitoring for Patients with Diabetes

Challenges for People Living With Diabetes

Patients with diabetes (type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes) face a host of challenges in their daily lives.

Treatment plans can require constant monitoring with electronic devices or finger pricks that test blood sugar levels. They can also require multiple injections per day and additional medications to manage other symptoms. Diabetics are predisposed to developing long-term complications and additional health problems. Cardiovascular disease, nerve damage, kidney damage, eye problems, and depression are just a few of these comorbidities.

In addition, diabetics are responsible for following a relatively strict nutritional plan. Overhauling their diet, learning nutrition guidelines, and cooking at home can be very stressful for patients who are not used to eating this way.

Managing diabetes is also expensive. Even patients with insurance can spend more than $4,000 per year on test strips and other necessary supplies. For patients living paycheck-to-paycheck, this can be a major obstacle in taking care of their health.

Challenges for Practitioners Who Treat People With Diabetes

Early diabetes intervention reduces the risk of complications and can even slow the disease’s progress. One of the biggest challenges in treating diabetes patientsis catching it early enough and providing access to the insulin your patients need.

Making sure your patients stick to their treatment plan is also a challenge. Success often requires lifestyle changes and strict adherence to a medication schedule. Patients also need to monitor their blood sugar several times per day, which can be hard for people who are trying to balance work and family life.

How Does a Remote Healthcare Monitoring System Improve Care for People With Diabetes?

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a complete healthcare support solution that allows patients and care teams to work together, both remotely and in person. It works by continuously collecting data on patient blood glucose levels and reporting the data back to practitioners.

You can then review the data as often as you want, even daily. This allows for greater attention to detail and better diabetes management in your patients. You can recognize any concerning trends quickly or congratulate your patient when they do well. You can also schedule remote patient monitoring telehealth video calls and message your patients directly using a remote health monitoring system.

With an RPM system, patients can get diabetes care from the comfort of their own homes and practitioners in-office can ensure the patient’s blood sugar levels stay within an acceptable range.

Which Devices Can Patients Use to Monitor Glucose Levels?

The Scan Smart Glucometer is an FDA-registered remote patient monitoring device for measuring blood sugar levels. These RPM devices sync directly to a mobile app, so both you and your patient can see the results quickly and easily. It also provides a reminder alarm for patients to motivate them to test their blood sugar when needed.

An RPM platform also syncs directly with other programs patients might already be using to monitor their health, including Apple Healthkit watches, other digital fitness trackers, and digital scales.

With all these devices working together, you and your patient can have a robust view of the full picture of their health. Remote healthcare monitoring helps you notice anything that needs immediate attention and improves long-term outcomes for chronic conditions like diabetes.

The Future of Diabetes Management

Remote patient monitoring services are a modern way to help patients manage diabetes. However, the available products are just the beginning of a technological revolution in remote health monitoring.

Google’s healthcare division, Verily, is working on a contact lens that can monitor blood sugar levels through tears. It contains a microscopic chip, glucose monitor, and antennae between two thin contact lenses. It reports the data to an advanced remote patient monitoring system accessed via a mobile app.

Other researchers are working on smart tattoos. These home health monitoring devices will consist of thin biosensors on the skin that will glow or light up when too much sugar is present in the bloodstream.

These future remote patient monitoring solutions will build upon the incredible technology that’s already available to patients and healthcare organizations today.  At CoachCare, we provide remote patient monitoring systems using the most up-to-date technology and RPM devices. This means faster, more personalized treatment and better outcomes for patients with diabetes.

Would you like to know more about how our wearable health monitoring devices can help you work better with diabetes patients? Contact us for a free demo of our remote patient monitoring system!