The MedWatchDog Personal Management System for diabetics
Which information is needed to assign a successful therapy?
Since people burn carbohydrates different from person to person as well as different for the time of the day, it is important to measure blood glucose BEFORE and AFTER a meal. Depending on the persons metabolism his/her blood sugar level will drop after some time, regulated by the body itself by 'pumping' insulin into the blood. People with a diabetes disorder experience this process to take place much slower or not at all. Depending on how high the blood sugar level is and how much slower the 'drop' will take place, a therapy with insulin may be applied.
Measuring 1 hour and again 2 hours after a meal shows how much sugar (mg/dl or mmol/l) is broken down by the body itself if no medication or insulin is given. The different times of the day when the meals are taken show the effect it has on the blood sugar level during that period. The quantity of insulin to be injected (the compensation for the BE) can be calculated from this data. Of course if and when medicines are taken, the effects under the various circumstances may change.
Most important for a successful therapy is the calculation of carbohydrates as accurate as possible by the patient him/herself. Some carbohydrates mixed with other ingredients (a candy bar or a cheese cake) can have a totally different immediate effect on the blood sugar level than the same quantity of carbohydrates in spaghetti with a meat sauce. The correction must be accordingly. Overcorrecting (e.g. by injecting a too high a quantity of insulin BEFORE the carbohydrates are 'burned' could lead to a Hypoglycemia, which on its turn has to be corrected with some quick reacting carbohydrate like a sweet apple juice. (Jo Jo effect)
These 'events' or 'patterns' can be 'traced' by the MWD Manager. The MWD Manager can suggest the best compensation per BE for the time of the day as well as the best IE compensation for the high blood sugar levels. From the history the MWD Manager can analyze and point to wrong or missed measuring points as well as wrong IE or BE compensations. (looking for patterns)
Calculating carbohydrates and when to take, need proper training by the doctor or his/her nutrition assistant(s) and is the core of a good and successful therapy. At the beginning of a therapy strict intervals for food and medicine intakes as well as measuring blood glucose levels are the basis for a more 'loose' type of therapy later .
PocketMWD and the MWD Manager provides the therapist with the data needed to instruct and train the patient to his/her best interest much more efficient and faster than any conventional type of diary, even in combination with all known blood sugar test devices and their software. Once the MWD is 'collecting' the data, the workload is reduced dramatically for the therapist. Moreover, the therapist has all the tools for in dept analysis at the tips of his fingers with a quality and diversity as never known before.
Of course the MWD management system need training too. But, learning by doing brings results fast and almost effortless. An extremely important 'side effect' to the benefit of both therapist and patient is that the patient does not feel 'CONTROLLED' anymore, but 'INVOLVED' in the therapy since the patient has access to the same information as his therapist has.
A full set of therapy 'templates' can be activated and transferred from the therapist/doctor to the MWD and MWD Manager setting a complete agenda for the patient and numerous tools for the therapist/doctor to analyze and adapt the therapy as preset 'alerts' point the therapist/doctor to areas of improvement.
Never before a system like the MWD management system has been available with such quality and 'easy to use' features for both patient and therapist/doctor.
PocketMWD as the ‘primary core’ product has been developed by a diabetes patient for diabetes patients who want to organize their disease related daily routines more efficiently, and want to be better informed but eliminating all the corresponding paperwork at the same time. Reminding and monitoring of various multiple glucose checks in combination with possibly several medications (insulin), food intakes and physical conditions under various circumstances are made easy to collect and are made fully transparent within a given therapy to the patient him/herself of his/her doctor(s).
It took more than 5 years and a substantial amount of resources, from the definition of the system’s properties and capabilities to the availability of the hardware (PocketMWD and MWD PenSensor + accessories) and the software. (PocketMWD, MWD Manager and MWD Internet Service)
PocketMWD has been designed with minimal operating efforts and maximal effectiveness in mind. The button layout is intuitive and the programs are easy to use and functional. Younger as well as older generations experience the use of PocketMWD as fun, simple or easy.
Next to a large number of variables, in its Flash memory the device can store an almost unlimited amount of events which is enough for many months of intensive use.
In case the memory is ‘FULL’ the device will delete the oldest events to make place for the new one. Whenever data is transferred to the MWD Manager (‘secondary core’ product) the full memory will be available again.
An integrated Carbon Hydrate Calculator can be activated instantly during the data capturing process or as a separate function. A maximum of 350 food products can be stored where the content may differ from country to country, adapting to the local eating habits and availability and naming of relevant food products.
Every PocketMWD has a built in unique identifier or GUID (Genuine Unique ID) which secures data transfers from and to external databases as the MWD Manager or the MWD Internet Services.
An unlimited number of PocketMWD can be ‘served’ by one single installation on a PC by the MWD Manager. The MWD Manager software can communicate with the MWD Internet Service for every single PocketMWD individually or for all ‘users’ of a single MWD Manager Installation simultaneously allowing for doctors outside the reach of the Internet to monitor all of his/her patients on a single computer.
Any number of PocketMWD can be ‘served’ by the MWD Internet Services even without the interconnection of the MWD Manager Software, allowing for doctors within the reach of the Internet to monitor his/her patients without using the MWD Manager software.
To ‘serve’ a PocketMWD from the MWD Internet Service the device must be connected to any computer which can be connected to the Internet and this computer must have the MedWatchDog Driver installed.
The communication and data transfer system as part of the ‘secondary core’ which enables and secures data integrity and reliability is based on our team’s 12 year experience in Internet product development.
The ‘MedWatchDog Personal Management System’ may consist out of PocketMWD, the MWD PenSensor, the MWD Manager (PC Software) and the MWD Internet Services.
Any ‘component’ of the system can be used ‘stand alone’ with all their individual requirements to a high quality product, without ANY dependency on any of the other components.
However, all components of the system can interact with each other, transferring information to where it is needed for immediate action or for further processing.
Time saving presentations of actual data for immediate interpretation by authorized med. doctors in order to support a therapy and/or monitoring the effectiveness of a therapy can be produced instantly.
The MWD Internet Service offers a patient dependant ‘Management by Exception Functionality’ (Alert System), or just standard monitoring of a patient’s condition, time based medication intakes (insulin, other medications), food intakes, Hyper- and Hyposympthoms, sickness, stress and other physical conditions.
The MWD PenSensor as a separate product, (advised but not essentially necessary) can be connected to the PocketMWD using bluetooth (end of 2008).
The storage capacity of the MWD PenSensor has been deliberately limited to 180 glucose checks where the oldest check data will be deleted to make place for a new check in case the memory is full.
Only few patients can remember the actual circumstances related to a large numbers of checks from the past. The storage limitation ‘forces’ the patient ‘softly, by logical argument’ to transfer the check data daily to PocketMWD, the MWD Manager or another medium and complete relevant data to that medium.
Unless hospitalized, any successful therapy is always based on the patients own discipline assigned to him/her by his/her doctor to be carried out at home.
Independent of the language settings in PocketMWD , data can be viewed in any of the other available languages in the MWD Manager or MWD Internet services.
An Internal Messaging System doctor/patient linked into the alert system, independent of eMail is also integrated.
The patient’s advantages:
The patient has a MWD PenSensor only:
A high tech, CE approved, light, (27 gram) elegant and highly discrete glucose meter, for home use and superior to most of the glucose meters on the market today in terms of design, quality, performance, attractivity and price.
The patient uses PocketMWD only:
PocketMWD is an extremely convenient and powerful data collector. It has proved its features useful for all types of diabetes patients. Especially for newly diagnosed patients the daily reminder functions help to set and adjust the patient’s recommended daily routines very quickly.
PocketMWD can be used with any other type of glucose meter (but in such a case direct data transfer as with the MWD PenSensor is not possible).
Even without software for further processing, PocketMWD offers useful historical data calculated from the last 90 days of use.
Emergency detecting and warning provide a feel of security for patients who suffer from frequent hypoglycemia.
The patient uses PocketMWD, PenSensor and MWD Manager:
PocketMWD and the MWD PenSensor are a flexible combination for recording glucose check data and integrating related information.
Reminding and monitoring of various multiple glucose checks in combination with possibly several medications (insulin), food intakes and physical conditions under various circumstances are made fully transparent within a given therapy to the patient him/herself of his/her doctor(s).
PocketMWD makes the traditional diabetes journal obsolete while keeping the ‘touch and feel’ in the MWD Manager for the patient’s comfort and convenience.
The MWD Manager provides all required ‘on screen’ information to the patient and to his/her doctor(s) who do not have ‘or do not want to have’ access to Internet in printed form.
The patient uses PocketMWD, PenSensor, Manager and MWD Internet Services:
The MWD Internet Service offers the best patient/doctor environment in the market today. Based on the use of PocketMWD and/or MWD Manager a maximum of personal freedom and flexibility is created for both patient and doctor.
The doctor’s advantages:
The patient has a MWD PenSensor only:
A high tech, CE approved, light, (27 gram) elegant and highly discrete glucose meter, for home use and superior to most of the glucose meters on the market today in terms of design, quality, performance, attractivity and price.
Because of its attractive and discrete design, the MWD PenSensor is widely accepted by patients, ‘sensitive’ to any public diabetes display, and reduces some patient’s resistance against using a meter in public. (Working place)
The patient uses PocketMWD only:
The history information in PocketMWD itself offers quick access to relevant data. More than most glucose meters can provide.
With an Internet connection the doctor can read data from the device using the MWD Internet Service and can have instant access to the patient’s data. (After authorization by the patient)
The patient uses PocketMWD, PenSensor and MWD Manager:
PocketMWD makes the traditional diabetes journal obsolete while keeping the ‘touch and feel’ in the MWD Manager for the patient’s comfort and convenience.
Because the patient has access to the same information the doctor has the patient can actively contribute to improvement.
The patient uses PocketMWD, PenSensor, Manager and MWD Internet Services:
The MWD Internet Service offers the best patient/doctor environment in the market today. Based on the use of PocketMWD and/or MWD Manager a maximum of personal or professional freedom and flexibility is created for both patient and doctor.
For a doctor, information in as much detail as needed is made available instantly, with no more requirements than an Internet connection. A doctor can monitor his patients and adjust therapies from any place in the world where an Internet connection is available. ‘Management by Exception Functionality’ and other time saving features help the doctor focusing on the human aspects of the patient/doctor relationship instead of processing documents (journals, reports).
Data loss risk:
The patient uses PocketMWD only:
The risk is very small that data can get lost. Only when the patient looses the device without recovery all data will be lost from the last update in his/her doctor.
If a device would be damaged to an unusable state, the data from the flash memory can be recovered unless it would be physically destroyed (under a train)
For such an event we will provide data entry sheets which can be send by regular mail and processed manually, at any time, directly into the patient’s database.
The patient uses PocketMWD and MWD Manager:
As the MWD manager has functionality to enter data manually, all data can be kept up to date, unless BOTH MedWatchDog and MWD Manager would be damaged to destruction.
The risk would be practically zero that data can get lost. Only when the patient looses the device without recovery, all data will be lost from the last update in his/her own or doctor’s MWD Manager Software.
If a device would be damaged to an unusable state, the data from the flash memory can be recovered unless it would be physically destroyed (under a train)
For such an event we will provide data entry sheets which can be send by regular mail and processed manually, at any time, directly into the patient’s database.
The patient uses PocketMWD, Manager and MWD Internet Services:
Same as above, where MWD Manager Data can be recovered from the MWD Internet Service Databases.
With a daily or even a weekly update (synchronization) highly actual and comprehensive data would be available to the authorized persons on command.