Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/122157
CLINICAL FEATURE TECH SUPPORT: Technology Keeps Pace With Rising Tide of Diabetes WHEN CATHERINE CARVER, M.S., ANP, CDE, VICE PRESIDENT OF PLANNING AND ADVOCACY FOR THE BOSTON-BASED JOSLIN DIABETES CENTER, WAS IN PUBLIC HEALTH SCHOOL, PART OF THE STUDENTS' PRESENTATION TO COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS WAS TO HURL A CONTAINER OF CONFETTI AT THE AUDIENCE AND, AFTER THE FLECKS SETTLED, POINT OUT THAT ANYONE WHO HAD A SPECK ON THEM LIKELY KNEW SOMEONE OR HAD A FAMILY MEMBER WITH DIABETES. T HE POINT WAS to illustrate the prevalence of diabetes, a disease that now affects nearly 26 million people in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has predicted as many as one in three people could be diagnosed with the condition by 2050. That means the health care system will be deluged with individuals needing care for diabetes and education about how to self-manage the disease. And, experts say, the only way for health care providers to keep their heads above water is through the use of technology. "Expanding beyond face-to-face office visits is the only way we can remain relevant in the face of the tsunami of new diabetes cases coming our way," says Carver, who is the force behind Joslin Everywhere, a new mobile diabetes management initiative linking physicians and consumers and aimed at making Joslin's resources available to anyone who needs them. "The only way we can hope to stem this epidemic is to reach people through other mediums." 20 | San Antonio MD NEWS I MDNEWS.COM Marcia Draheim, R.N., CDE, past president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators and President of Draheim Dimensional Presentations, which develops technology-based diabetes education tools, says technology affords providers the opportunity to offer diabetes education in formats that may be more effective for certain patients. "It's incumbent on physicians and diabetes educators to have a variety of means of reaching out to patients," Draheim says. Broad Access to Expertise People are becoming more proactive about their health thanks to easy access to technology, according to Healthcare Tech Review. An estimated 75 million adults in the United States use mobile phones to find health information. And the number using tablets, laptops and desktop computers for health purposes is climbing as well. Joslin Everywhere, announced in early 2012, began phasing in last fall.