DiasNet--an Internet tool for communication and education in diabetes

Although studies have shown that intensive diabetes treatment with the goal of maintaining blood glucose concentrations close to the normal range lead to a substantial reduction of the rate of the complications (e.g. blindness, kidney failure, amputations and circulatory diseases), this can be difficult to achieve using conventional means. It is recognised that a number of patients may have poor control despite specialist care, and this along with devolution of care to non-specialists suggests that alternative interventions should be developed. DiasNet, which is used by patients as a tool for education and communication, is based on a well documented decision support system used by clinicians to give advise on insulin dose. In DiasNet the patients can experiment with their own data, adjusting insulin doses or meals sizes, and thereby learning how to cope with various situations. The system can run both as an ordinary application on a standard PC, and as an Internet application using a standard web browser. The latter enables a new way of communication between patient and clinician. DiasNet is currently being tested on a small group of diabetes patients.