A European project allows improving the monitoring of diabetes patients through ICT
The Reaction Project, which has been financed with European funds of the 7th frame, has developed a set of tools and techniques that are already helping both health professionals and patients to better manage this pathology.The Spanish Lydia Montandon is the coordinator of the project that groups organizations from 9 different countries.
As explained by Lydia Montandon, «the main objective of reaction was to investigate ways such as ICT (information and communication technologies) could help diabetes patients and health professionals to better manage this disease through tools through toolseffective and applicable in different sanitary contexts throughout Europe ».
The fruit of these research is an intelligent service platform that allows the therapeutic management and remote monitoring of diabetes patients that facilitates continuous and adjusted control of the blood glucose level and other crucial vital indicators for goodoperation of insulin therapy.
During the project different tools have been developed, including Glucotab (a system that works with a table and that indicates to doctors and nurses the ideal treatment for each patient), an application for smart mobiles that allows the patient to closely follow their diet,and network connection protocols through which patients and health professionals can exchange the values measured through sensors incorporated into the patient's clothing or body.It has also advanced significantly in the research of automatic glycemic control, integrating blood glucose sensors and the insulin dosing algorithm that has been developed within the project.
Beyond technological advances, the Reaction Team has studied the implications of technologies developed at a social, economic and legal level.The legal frameworks of the Member States have been studied regarding privacy and civil liability.In this way, the Glucotab system has received the 'CE' label in accordance and can already be used as part of the clinical routine.
Reaction is a European project in which 15 partners from 9 different countries have collaborated: Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Austria, United Kingdom and Belgium.The project coordinator, Lydia Montandon, is part of one of the participating organizations, Atos.
This project has been financed with European funds from the ICT Work Program of the 7th Framework Program, the EU Research Program for the 2007-2013 period.This year the Horizon 2020 program endorsed with 80,000 million euros that will promote research and innovation projects for the 2014-2020 period.
Some of the tools developed in the Reaction Project have already been used at the University of Medicine of Graz (Austria) and by primary care patients of the Chorleywood Health Center (United Kingdom).Nurses and doctors of the Austrian University Hospital explain that the tools helped them make better care plans for their patients, more tight insulin doses could be administered and the level of glycemia of the patients remained much more stable.NDP CE in Barcelona