Patient Scenario
Patient X, a 26 years old male with a 40 kg weight, was brought to the hospital in an unconscious condition. A thorough body examination was conducted at the hospital premises, which revealed such symptoms as dry skin and dehydration. Given those symptoms and the fact that the patient was not under any medication and had no previous health issues, the hospital management decided to conduct further analysis on diabetes (Sekijima et al., 2018). The diagnosis concluded that the patient had diabetes but was not aware of it until the rapid deterioration of the state of health. After the administration of necessary medication, the patient regained consciousness and agreed to adjust his lifestyle for the better management of his condition.
Teaching Areas
Information
Patients with developed diabetes must always be alert about their condition and necessary measures for living with it. Thus, a simple yet informative mobile health app such as Beat Diabetes (TipsBook, 2021) would be valuable for them. This app provides useful tips and guidelines for people newly diagnosed with diabetes in a user-friendly form (Ranjani et al., 2021). Therefore, the patient needs to be informed about the app right after the confirmation of diabetes. Ideally, the patient should install it on their phone under the nurse’s guidance as soon as they are able to do that and read the guidelines related to diabetes.
Safety features/guidelines provided by the mHealth app
Beat Diabetes app provides several guidelines for patients diagnosed with diabetes. They can be divided into the following sections:
- Diabetic diet. This section provides such information as the best and the worst food types for patients with diabetes, tips for diet planning, and an example of recommended diet;
- Suggested exercises. Since physical activity is vital for halting and curbing diabetes, the app gives tips on how to control the ailment through exercise. For example, Beat Diabetes (TipsBook, 2021) discovers the simple ways of increasing physical activity, teaches correct walking techniques, and provides special tips for patients with Type 1 diabetes.
- Important information. In this section, patients, or even people who are not diagnosed with diabetes yet, can learn about that disease and its symptoms and get daily health tips.
Interpretation and Actions
Nursing personnel should understand that informing the patient about a particular mHealth app is not enough. They should also teach the patient how to interpret information from the app in regard to their condition and act accordingly. For example, if the app recommends physical activity, the patient should not do all the described exercises and exhaust themselves. Instead, they should carefully read the section, select the activity suitable for their condition, and do it consistently. If the app user checks the symptoms and thinks they are developing diabetes, they should visit a doctor before doing anything else. Overall, the patient should leave final judgment to medical personnel and use the mHealth app only as an auxiliary treatment instrument.
Determining and Evaluating Success
In the end, it is necessary to list criteria, which help to determine and evaluate the success of mHealth app use in the treatment process:
- There is a noticeable improvement in the patient’s condition. This criterion stands above all, as knowledge and use of the mHealth app by itself does not guarantee success in treatment;
- The patient actively uses guidelines from the particular mHealth app. For instance, they adhere to described diets and do a consistent amount of necessary physical activity;
- The patient knows how to interpret guidelines provided in a mHealth app but understands that an app cannot replace the doctor
Beat Diabetes Reference
TipsBook. (2021). Beat Diabetes (Version 9.6.3) [Mobile app]. Google Play Store
References
Sekijima, H., Goto, K., Hiramoto, K., Komori, R., & Ooi, K. (2018). Characterization of dry skin associating with type 2 diabetes mellitus using a KK-Ay/TaJcl mouse model. Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology, 37(4), 391-395. Web.
Ranjani, H., Nitika, S., Hariharan, R., Charumeena, H., Oliver, N., Pradeepa, R., Chambers J.C., Unnikrishnan, R., Mohan, V., Avari, P., & Anjana, R. M. (2021). Systematic review and scientific rating of commercial apps available in India for diabetes prevention. medRxiv, 1-26. Web.