Telemedicine for diabetes care: An Indian perspective - feasibility and efficacy

Abstract

Diabetes is a chronic and costly disease. In India, the usual practice among patients is to visit the doctor once in every 2-3 months to get advice on changes in the dosages of medications. The Diabetes Tele Management System (DTMS^® ) is a telemedicine based follow-up program originally introduced at Jothydev's Diabetes Research Centre at Trivandrum South India in 1998. It is a chronic disease management system which enables patient to interact lively with a professionally trained multidisciplinary team comprising of diabetes educators, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists, psychologists, physicians, etc., in modifying the dosages of medications, diet, and physical activity either through telephone/email/secure website. The uniquely designed software and the trained multidisciplinary team overcomes the globally recognized major barriers to diabetes management namely fear of hypoglycemia, polypharmacy, discontinuation of stains, and antihypertensives or wrong injection techniques. DTMS is designed to provide individualized therapy advices on glycosylated hemoglobin, blood pressure, and low density lipoprotein customized to multiple patient characteristics which help attain goals of therapy. The system has been tested on various platforms over a decade and was shown to be a patient friendly approach with successful outcomes due to a live "round-the-clock" interactive communication in contrast to text or recorded messages. The major challenge to the widespread use of DTMS ^® is seeking a source of funding this unique telemedicine program.