Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Our department cares for 273 children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM). All T1DM patients are issued with an uploadable glucose meter from diagnosis. 101 patients (37%) use insulin pump therapy and 126 (46%) use a continuous glucose monitoring device. Anecdotally we noted many patients were not uploading their data prior to coming to clinic. This contributed to reduced patient flow through diabetes clinics and also to reduced patient and carer engagement with their diabetes data between clinic appointments. We wanted to better understand the barriers to uploading diabetes devices at home, to enable us to better support this area of self-management.

Method: We conducted a survey of patients attending clinic over a 4 week period between mid April and mid May 2021. We collected information including length of time since diagnosis, devices used, which devices had been uploaded at home and any barriers to uploading. Questionnaires were distributed in clinic and anonymous responses were collected.

Results: We received 36 responses. 44% of patients (16/36) did not upload their diabetes equipment at home prior to clinic. An additional 55% (20/36 patients) were using Dexcom, and so had their data automatically uploaded to Diasend. Barriers to uploading were identified as ‘forgetting to upload (22.5%)’, not knowing this was expected of patients/families (22.2%), ‘assuming clinic staff would do this’ (11.1%), not knowing how to (16.7%) or not having access to a computer (11.1%).

Conclusion: A significant number of patients are not currently uploading their data prior to coming to clinic, potentially contributing to longer clinic waiting times and missed learning opportunities. Based on feedback from patients we have instigated a number of changes to our service including changing our clinic appointment letter to highlight to families the importance of uploading devices at home. We have produced a series of leaflets explaining how to upload each separate device, including links to videos. We have approached a local charity to explore whether they can help families who do not have access to computers. Numbers of patients uploading prior to clinic will be re-assessed formally again after these changes have been instigated.