TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wallace, David
AU  - Perry, Julie
AU  - Yu, Janelle
AU  - Mehta, Joshua
AU  - Hunter, Paul
AU  - Cross, Karen Michelle
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/04/16
TI  - Assessing the Need for Mobile Health (mHealth) in Monitoring the Diabetic Lower Extremity
JO  - JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
SP  - e11879
VL  - 7
IS  - 4
KW  - mHealth
KW  - diabetes
KW  - diabetic foot ulcers
AB  - Background: Complications of the diabetic lower extremity (such as diabetic foot ulcers, DFUs) occur when monitoring is infrequent, and often result in serious sequelae like amputation or even death. Objective: To evaluate the potential application of mobile health (mHealth) to diabetic foot monitoring. We surveyed the self-management routines of a group of diabetic patients, as well as patient and clinician opinions on the use of mHealth in this context. Methods: Patients with DFUs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada completed a 25-item questionnaire addressing their foot care practices, mobile phone use, and views on mHealth. Wound care clinicians across Canada were also surveyed using a 9-item questionnaire. Results: Of the patients surveyed, 59/115 (51.3%) spend less than a minute checking their feet, and 17/115 (15%) of patients find it difficult to see their doctor or get to the hospital regularly. Mobile phone use was widespread in our patient cohort (93/115, 80.9%). Of mobile phone users, 68/93 (73.1%) would use a device on their mobile phone to help them check their feet. Of the clinicians who completed the questionnaire, only 7/202 (3.5%) were familiar with mHealth; however, 181/202 (92%) of clinicians expressed interest in using mHealth to monitor their patients between visits. Conclusions: Patient education or motivation and clinician training were identified as the major barriers to mHealth use in the diabetic lower extremity, which may be a viable mechanism to improve DFU monitoring practices. 
SN  - 2291-5222
UR  - https://mhealth.jmir.org/2019/4/e11879/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/11879
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30990455
DO  - 10.2196/11879
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/11879
ER  -