Hello All

[DC20]

Hi All,

My name is Darryl and I'm a masters student at the University of Portsmouth, I'm here to hopefully learn from you all.

As part of my user experience unit my group and I are hopefully going to be able to address any usability/user experience needs you're encountering with diabetes management applications.

I've requested to post survey here, hopefully this will be approved. 🙂

Thank you 🙂

 

[trophywench]

I manage mine myself - nobody else can do it for me and that's the same for every individual since each of us has our own individual metabolism and preferences.

If you're on about Apps that might assist people doing it then that's different! 😉

 

[DC20]

Hi Jenny,

I hope you're well. 🙂

I suppose what I had meant to say was apps that assist in diabetes management correct. 😉

Do you happen to use any? How beneficial do you believe this/these to be?

Thank you.

 

[Drummer]

I think you'll have to give more thought as to what you are asking about and who you are asking - so far my assumption is that you are asking about software to download into hand held devices, perhaps ranging from phones to ipads.
After that it is more vague - perhaps it is insulin users who need to adjust dosing, but it is not clear at all. There are other options and other types of diabetic.

 

[trophywench]

I don't use any Apps for anything - and don't actually like the fact that they now call computer software which as far as I'm concerned always were and always will be programs, Apps now. The only diabetes one I did use in the past was my pump software. I haven't missed it since we updated to Windoze 10 TBH (cos it was on 7) and have never bothered applying for the W10 version.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I don't use any Apps for anything - and don't actually like the fact that they now call computer software which as far as I'm concerned always were and always will be programs, Apps now.

I think usually people say Apps when they're thinking of programs on smartphones (or tablets), and that seems a useful thing to do. I agree using the term for a website or a program on a desktop or laptop seems much less useful. (I also agree I don't see much value in an overall management program. I have tried more limited things (like a bolus calculator) but even then it seems like by the time I've entered the relevant information I've already worked out what I want to do, so they just end up more annoying to use than helpful. But people are different.)

 

[trophywench]

Well I use the bolus calculator on my pump handset/meter, which I couldn't call an App or a program, cos it's based on an Algorithm within the handset. It would annoy me having to tell my pump my BG reading and then enter the carbs cos as you say - it does slow it down anyway so I'm forever swearing at it and telling it it's a knobhead when my ratio is 1u:10g anyway! OTOH it does also take the IOB into consideration in its calculations and working that out precisely isn't a skill I've ever learned.

 

[Docb]

Right attitude TW. Apps are best seen, not as some sort of magic solution to your ills but as a way of saving time because they do automatically something that you could do anyway. If you cannot do it "by hand" then be wary of the app. They are different to "technology", like your pump or finger prick glucose monitor, which do things you could not do otherwise.

My favourite app is a notebook and a Mont Blanc pen. Oh, and a spreadsheet. The closer I am to the data the better.