Effectiveness of Video Consultations in Type 1 Diabetes Patients Treated With Insulin Pumps in the Outpatient Clinic

University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus 1; Telemedicine

Treatments: Other: Intervention group video consultations

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04612933

SHS-MS-09-2020

Details and patient eligibility

About

Telemedicine is a solution to overcome distance and ensure the provision of healthcare services. This study aims to investigate the effects of conducting outpatient clinic visits remotely, for patients living with insulin pumps.

Full description

Telemedicine also has the potential to be a cost-effective solution due to reductions in travelling costs and saved working days, as well as increased patient satisfaction due to the reduction in transportation time.

Several studies have evaluated telemedicine for use in Diabetes Mellitus patients with an insulin pump. In all of these studies, the telemedicine group scheduled more contacts with the health care professionals than in the standard care group. To the investigator's knowledge, no one has investigated telemedicine, compared to standard care with the same number of scheduled contacts. The investigators believe telemedicine should increase the level of service and not increase the workload for health care professionals. A telemedical solution can provide patients with a more flexible alternative for visiting their health care provider rather having the burden of extra telemedicine appointments plus regular treatment.

Patients in rural Denmark may have a travelling time of 70 km (1 hour by car or several hours by public transport) to a specialised Diabetes Mellitus specialist centre. This may result in some patients choosing not to start or not being offered insulin pump treatment despite indications that an insulin pump is an optimal treatment choice. The challenge of distance also poses problems for patients in relation to technical problems or medical issues with the insulin pump. Telemedicine should be a solution for both patients and their Health Care Providers.

In this randomised controlled study, the effects of conducting clinical visits remotely, for patients living with insulin pumps will be investigated. Participants will be allocated to either Intervention (Standard care provide by video consultations) or standard care.

Enrollment: 76 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patients over 18 years of age
• Diagnosed with diabetes Type 1
• Patient has used insulin pump for at least 6 months

Exclusion criteria

• No internet access
• Unable to adhere to protocol.
• Unable to speak or read Danish.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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76 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention group video consultations

Experimental group

Description:

All appointments, scheduled and non-scheduled are by telemedicine using video to commutate with the health care professionals. Patients will follow their usual treatment.

Treatment:

Other: Intervention group video consultations

No intervention

No Intervention group

Description:

All appointments, scheduled and non-scheduled are by face-face communication with the health care professionals. Patients will receive their usual treatment.