Design, construction, and implementation of an online platform for patients with type 1 diabetes: EncoDiab

Figures & data

Table 1 Patient requests for EncoDiab

Features and usability of the environment	Included
It should be possible to identify whether a participant is a health care professional or a patient, even if he/she is anonymous.	x
Frequent updates.	P
There should be a search engine available, to find specific information.	x
It should be usable with any of the standard browsers.	x
It should be usable from mobile phones.	P
It should be linked to social media.	x
It should be possible to label contents to facilitate search.	x
It should be possible to mark contents with “+1” or “I like” and to make comments so that other participants can identify the most popular ones.	x
Contents
Nutritional information: macronutrient composition, carbohydrate portions, pictures, recipes.	x
Instructions on how to act in special situations: what to do when making a mistake in the dose of insulin.	x
Information for family members, place of work, schools: how to act in acute situations (PDF for convenient printing).	x
Pregnancy: therapeutic targets, pre-pregnancy follow-up, pregnancy, and chronic diabetes complications.	P
Traveling: medical reports needed, what to take in the hand luggage, how to transport and distribute insulin in the luggage, etc.	x
Advances in diabetes: research, new treatments.	x
Blood glucose meters: features and performance of those available.	x
Information about sweeteners.	x
Information about drugs that may alter glycemic control.	x
Insulin injection technique. Sites and rotation.
Information about chronic complications of diabetes.	P
How to treat hypoglycemia. How to use glucagon (printable PDF).	x
How to treat hyperglycemia: simple hyperglycemia, ketosis (printable PDF).	x
Foot care.
Legal issues related to diabetes: contracts, health and life insurance, driving license, subsidies, etc.	x
Important telephone numbers: glucose meter and pump manufacturers.
Geolocalization of pharmacies with insulin available.
Information about who is the on-call endocrinologist in both hospitals.
Newsletters. Interviews with celebrities who suffer from diabetes or with other participants in the platform, to share experience.
Library, resources, etc. Links to important diabetes webpages American Diabetes Association, etc.	x
Applications (with instructions) and related subjects.	x
Application to download information from glucose meters.
Basic formulas: insulin sensitivity factor, insulin-dose calculation based on carbohydrate intake, correction bolus calculation.	x
A calculator that allows computation of these formulas directly.	x
Modifications of insulin dose in special situations: • Exercise (according to the type of exercise) • Illness and other situations (menstruation, fever, vomiting…) • Changes in daily physical activity (weekends, siesta…) • Alcohol intake • Barbecues and celebrations (snacking)	x
Contact management.	x
Contact information of physicians, nurses, manufacturers (insulin, meters, technology…), health institutions, press.	P
Calendars
A public calendar with activities, congresses, social meetings….
A private calendar for every participant where all diabetes-related issues could be integrated into daily life.	x
Appointments should be automatically recorded on a private calendar.
Personal documentation area
Access to a personal health folder (electronic record).	P
Sampling.
Personal statistics with graphs.
Test results.
Possibility of activating alerts for scheduled visits or prescription expiry. Identification of abnormal results, eg, with a different color.
Private “virtual” glucose record with links to carbohydrate portion records that can be saved and retrieved for a better interpretation of glucose values. Possibility to submit such data to a health care professional.
Possibility of consulting a health care professional via videoconference together with availability of editable records, in order to get new prescriptions if needed.
Online consultation. Urgent questions should be replied to within 24 hours (although it would not be possible to choose the health care professional). For non-urgent questions, it should be possible to choose a health care professional or any one that is available. In both cases, the patient should be able to decide if the consultation is public or private. If public, other participants (patients and health care professionals) would be able to give their opinion and start a discussion.	P
A notice should be sent when the consultation has been replied to. If urgent, it should be sent via SMS. The patient should be able to decide when the event is closed.	x
A printable calendar with scheduled appointments should be available on the platform. It should be possible to change the date of blood testing appointments.
Diabetes education courses/information
Food labeling (composition, carbohydrate portions…).	x
Portions: description, how to adjust insulin doses to carbohydrate and fat intake.	x
Diet: healthy diet, losing and gaining weight.	x
How to use software to download glucose meter data.	x
Myths about diabetes (no sweets…).	x
What is type 1 diabetes? Differences with type 2 diabetes regarding treatment and pathogenesis.
Information about insulin pumps: indications, basic management.	x
Chats
Interaction with other patients with the participation of health care professionals acting as moderators when necessary.	x
Possibility of asking a health care professional who would reply in a reasonable time.	x
Possibility of synchronous consultation.	P
Mailbox for suggestions for continuous improvement of the platform.	P
Information about patient associations or links to their webs (although patients do not want the associations to access the platform).	x

Note: The column on the right shows which suggestions have been incorporated into the platform, either as expressed by the patients (x) or somewhat modified (P).

Figure 1 Body mass index calculator.

Figure 2 Carbohydrate portion and insulin-dose calculator.

Figure 3 Blood glucose register.

Figure 4 Private calendar.

Figure 5 Access to the library.

Notes: The most recent documents are visible. On the right-hand side, accessible folders containing additional documents can be seen.

Figure 6 Patient discussion room.