None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Diabetes is a chronic disease which has no cure, instead optimal glycaemic control is required to minimize complications. However, only 40% of people with diabetes are achieving target glycaemic control, demonstrating that effective disease management for people with diabetes remains a challenge. For some, particularly in rural areas, not achieving target glycaemic controls is at least in part due to poor access to qualified health care providers. Telemedicine has been shown to be effective in improving access to care and lowering the costs in some disciplines, but its application in chronic diseases such as diabetes is still controversial. This research project is designed to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of clinical decisions made when a diabetic patient is consulted by videoconference. This evaluation will be based on comparing the outcomes of specialist consultations provided through face-to-face encounter with video-consultation. Each patient will be seen by 2 doctors – either two face to face consultations one following the other, or a face to face and video consultation. Since doctors do not always agree on their decisions, this arrangement will enable us to determine whether any difference of opinion is a result of the video-conference method, or just normal variation between doctors. If shown to be as reliable as face-to-face consultation for managing diabetes, there will be valuable evidence to support substituting in-person consultation with video-consultation, which paves the way for at least some specialist consultation for people living in rural areas to avoid the expense and inconvenience of long distance travel. In some cases, it may open the door for specialist advice that is currently not available.
Interventions
People with type II diabetes who are referring to a diabetes clinic will be seen by endocrinologist consultant remotely via videoconferencing (real-time exchange of video and audio; a form of telemedicine). Duration of each consultation will be approximately 30 minutes.
Arm 1: Patient will be seen by 2 doctors - one by a face to face consultation and the other a video consultation (intervention). The order of in-person and video consultations will be based on random basis.
Arm 2: Patient will b
People with type II diabetes who are referring to a diabetes clinic will be seen by endocrinologist consultant remotely via videoconferencing (real-time exchange of video and audio; a form of telemedicine). Duration of each consultation will be approximately 30 minutes. Arm 1: Patient will be seen by 2 doctors - one by a face to face consultation and the other a video consultation (intervention). The order of in-person and video consultations will be based on random basis. Arm 2: Patient will be seen by 2 doctors by two face to face consultations one following the other (control)
Sponsors
Centre for Online Health, The University of Queensland
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Diagnosis
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Adult people with type II diabetes mellitus who are referring to diabetes clinic for review consultation
Exclusion criteria
People who are referring to the clinic for the first time, people whose first language is not English and no interpreter is available.
Outcome results
None listed