If you have observed teens in the last 10 years, you will know that most teens prefer texting to talking on cell phones. It is this observation that led Visiting Nurse Service of New York to propose an innovative chronic disease management tool for teens with Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) using aspects of health 2.0 and social media. The pilot program, which will run for two years, supplies each teen with a BlackBerry smartphone with specific interactive diabetes tracking software installed. The teens will be tracking and monitoring their blood sugar and diet information into the BlackBerry and the data will be monitored and analyzed by visiting nurses with the hypothesis that more frequent monitoring by teens with diabetes will lead to better health outcomes and fewer complications of diabetes.
Kudos to the Visiting Nurse Service of New York for embracing a creative use of new technology to provide better disease management to a very wired target market! How do you envision tools of technology and connection being used in healthcare?
Check out a video about the pilot program by clicking here.