Preliminary experience with the Internet release of AIDA--an interactive educational diabetes simulator

This paper overviews the Internet release of AIDA, a freeware interactive educational diabetes simulator. Since its release on the World Wide Web as a non-commercial contribution to continuing diabetes education over 14,000 people have visited the AIDA Web site--http:/(/)www.diabetic.org.uk/aida.htm--and over 5000 copies of the program have been downloaded, without charge. User responses thus far have been very encouraging. Example feedback and clinical experience reported by two insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetic patients, a patient's carer, the father of a diabetic teenager, a diabetes doctor and nurse educator, an endocrinologist and a postgraduate educator are presented. While such anecdotal, qualitative assessments are worthwhile and form a necessary step in the overall evaluation process--they are clearly subjective in nature and fully recognised as such. Given this, definitive outcome measures are highlighted as being required for the next stage in the evaluation process, and various objective evaluation criteria are proposed. A general protocol for the evaluation of interactive educational simulation tools, like AIDA, with patients is described and the concept of applying this in multiple centres--as a way of increasing study sample sizes--is discussed. It is highlighted that such a protocol could also be used to objectively compare a number of different interactive educational diabetes simulators. Clinicians who are interested in collaborating by enrolling patients into such a study are invited to contact the author, by email, at aida@globalnet.co.uk