The Importance of Patient and Family Engagement, the Needs for Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose (SMBG) – Our Perspectives Learned Through a Story of SMBG Assistive Devices Made by a Husband of the Patient with Diabetes

Abstract

Despite some negative reports regarding the need for the self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), including the issue of cost-effectiveness, there are still many users, and in diabetes treatment, which is largely dependent on the patient’s self-care, SMBG remains an important tool in establishing such self-care habits, with several reports supporting this notion. In addition, devices are needed to assist in SMBG for patients with diabetes who have difficulty performing SMBG, such as the elderly or those with visual impairment. In current diabetes care, it is reported that patient-centered care that respects the preferences, needs, and values of individual patients and personalized care that consider the characteristics and comorbidities of each patient are important. Through a case study of a patient with diabetes who had difficulty performing SMBG due to visual impairment, we learned of the needs of SMBG and its assistive devices and the importance of patient and family engagement with emphasis on patient-centered and personalized care. We herein report what we learned through this case in the form of perspectives. Through this report, we hope that medical professionals involved in diabetes care will learn of the importance and needs of these issues and apply them to their actual clinical practice.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• patient-centered care
• personalized care
• patient and family engagement
• self-monitoring of blood glucose
• SMBG assistive devices
• diabetes

Ethical Approval

This case report has been prepared in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and conforms to the ICMJE guidelines for appropriate anonymization.

Consent

We have obtained written consent from the patient to submit this manuscript to an academic journal using the Patient Consent Form (provided by the Taylor & Francis Group, of which Dove Medical Press is a member). Our institution does not require Institutional Review Board approval for publication of a case report.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Yoritomo Tamura, the patient’s husband, who played a central role in the design of the assistive device, and Roche DC Japan K.K. for their cooperation in designing the device and increasing its production, and Hiromi Tsuzukibashi, Masaki Hoshino for their sympathy with the need to create SMBG assistive devices.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

Masafumi Fukagawa reports grants and/or personal fees from Kyowa Kirin and Astra Zeneca, outside the submitted work. The authors declare no other conflicts of interest in this work.