Continuous Glucose Monitoring
One of the many new innovations in healthcare is continuous glucose monitoring, which has really only been around for about 20 years. The earliest systems were short-term, and at that point in time they were more or less independent systems, such as MiniMed, the first to gain FDA approval (Mastrototaro, 2000). Continuous monitoring represents an advancement over more traditional intermittent monitoring, as it provides a constant stream of real time data. While the earliest continuous glucose monitoring systems were viewed as having less accuracy than intermittent systems (Klonoff, 2005), that gap has since closed. Continuous glucose monitoring has been found to associate with improved glycemic control in adults with Type 1 diabetes, by alerting them in a timely manner as to the changes in their glucose levels (Tamborlane et al, 2008).
Nowadays, continuous glucose monitoring devices can still be independent devices, but many work with apps via one’s phone. This has particular benefits for the patient, and implications for nursing practice. For the patient, it means that they can set alerts, should the app record a shift in glucose levels to an undesirable level. In the event...
First, nurses have the opportunity to coach patients who are new to glucose monitoring. They can help the patient to set up the app, configure the alerts and ensure that the patient knows what to do when a chance in glucose level is detected. This is a little more like tech support than nursing used to be, but it saves time in the long run because the patient is now more responsible for monitoring their own glucose levels. Also, because the monitoring is done via app, a nurse can monitor multiple patients simultaneously, while they are monitoring themselves. The information can be fed into a central database that provides more granular details about the patients glucose level changes, and the nurse now has access to all of this data, allowing not just for a better standard of care, but puts the nurse in more of a position to help the patients as well.
The obvious advantages are that much more information is available for both nurses and patients. This can be a disadvantage, however,…
