Help with diabetes-related design project

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kayleighw

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Hi everyone. Sorry if this is a long post.

I'm hoping I can get some of your opinions on a concept I've come up with for my design degree project.

I am taking part in the RSA 'Body and Mind' project (http://www.rsadesigndirections.org/projects/projects5.html) I am required to re-design a medical intervention to make it more humane and less 'clinical' which can often make treatments daunting. I have chosen to focus my project on the treatment of diabetes, and in particular, the act of blood glucose testing.

My idea is to design a testing strip which will change colour according to the reading. Accompanying this will be a printed book detailing the meanings of each colour and actions to be taken etc. I hope that this may take the clinical feeling out of testing, making it more fun (as much as it can be) and gives the patient more interactivity with their own treatment.

I also feel that this could be good for younger sufferers and the newly diagnosed too, who are just getting to grips with what all of the readings means so maybe a colour code will help matters.

I'd appreciate any opinions you have of this idea, what are your thoughts on the concept? Do you feel that there is a need for such a product? Who do you think it would appeal to most?

Obviously, being a design project, this is more about the concept than making it a fully working product but it would be good if it were actually a possibility.

Thanks for your time!
 
Hi Kayleigh, I think that, personally, I'm happier to see the numbers rather than colours, which can be misinterpreted, maybe due to colour-blindness, light conditions etc. You quickly learn what the numbers mean, and what are 'good' and 'bad', so for me this wouldn't be an advance - it really goes back to the days when urine test strips were matched against a colour chart, so I don't think it is something that most diabetics would regard as an advance.

We had someone here a while ago who was asking what change we would make if possible and this elicited quite a few suggestions. I'll have a look for the thread and add it in here.


Found it: http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=4044
Good luck with your project.🙂
 
I'm rather in agreement with Northerner here. That rather reminds me of using Litmus paper - the problem with colours is is that they're much more subjective (would you say that's blue or green, for example), where as a number is a number and a definite figure, not subject to personal interpretation. I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to make decisions off that - I had enough trouble trying to match up colours on ketone strips!

Good luck, though 🙂
 
I expect that you mean the stirp to change colour as well as to show the number. What i would want to know is who sets the number at which it changes colour? Will the individual user be able to set their own limites or will that be inbuilt. because my target range will be different from the next person with diabetes. My other thought is that there could be an unhelpful link between a colour and result. for example if the blood sugar is above 7 and that shows yellow, then yellow will be interpreted as bad. x colour is good x colour is bad, whereas each reading is just a piece of information.
 
Hi,

Sorry to add, but another thought is that people might not want such a publicly visible result - eg I can discretely read the numbers on my meter, but if the strip starts glowing red does that mean everyone knows I've cocked up & got a high reading?! 😉 Sorry if I've totally misinterpreted what you meant!

Also to second what Northener said, I'd much prefer accurate numbers than a more subjective colour matching...when you're aiming for really tight control a few mmol can make a huge difference & I can imagine it would be hard to replicate small scale accuracy over multiple tests?...

Can I however applaud your efforts to make diabetes care more user friendly - that really is a good idea! 🙂

I think from my point of view, the things that matter most are accuracy, simplicity and practicality - hope that helps!
 
Reusable strips would be a godsend.
 
i think ease of use and also downloadable results are high on my agenda and also maybe making the testing machines a bit more funky for kids (not sure whats out there at the min as i only use abbots).
 
I agree with twitchy , practicality is key for me and my opinion is i dont care if the strip is shocking pink plain white on indigo as long as it tells me if im hypering or hypoing and that im doing ok thats all that matters
 
i think the colour idea is great for young children especially when graham is finish school i ask him how was the reading at 2 oclock and he does not remember
 
Sorry to be negative but holding up a coloured strip against a colour chart, is taking a step back in time! Thats what we used to have to do before the machines were widely available years ago. Having the machines which give you a numerical figure are so much more accurate. The previous problems with the old colour chart was that there too many gaps between each colour, so when the machines came along and you could get an accurate reading it was like a miracle - dont go back in time! Even as a child (as I was when using this system) it wasnt fun, it was just something that you had to do but just not very accurate! I think Alisons idea of re usable strips is better!!
 
sorry i did not know that was already been done in the past
 
Sorry just one more thing!... You say your idea will give the patient more interactivity with their own treatment. Well you could not have diabetes and not be interative with the treatment. Its the only way you can manage it.
 
Hi Grahams Mum,
Does your machine not store the results in it, so you can check that way?
 
Hi,

erm, good luck with your project, I'd say it's not the right direction to go in.

You would have to supply a number to reference the colour, in a booklet or something so you're not actually getting rid of the numbers!? Some of us are colour blind or have poor eye sight and the choice of colours to give a true indication must be massive, therefore impossible (?) and debates about is it light red or dark orange will occur!? Also on another front the NHS I believe are getting royally screwed in terms of the cost of strips and these would surely be more complex in their production, oh and we'd all need new meters!

But it's good to see some people out there are trying to improve aspects of our care, so for that I thank you deeply.

Rossi
 
I am happy with my monitor that gives me numbers. Like Northener in our household there might be a problem with anything that changes colour. Unless there is a very accurate colour chart that exactly matches the monitor my grown up son would have problems too as he has colour defective vision especially along red and blue spectrums.
 
Hello,

Sorry I have to agree with the others that this is a step backwards. I remember using strips that changed colour to test my blood glucose more than 13 years ago when I was first diagnosed.

I think they were the strips described in this patent:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6572822.html

Back then the strips took 2 minutes to develop the colour which you then matched to the box to tell you what your blood sugar was. I also had a Reflolux S meter which helped by analyzing the colour and converting it to a number mmol/L

NiVZ
 
I feel like your idea has been rubbished and I feel a bit bad about that. But what I'm wondering is if you asked people with diabetes what they wanted before coming up with your idea?
 
Hello,

Had another thought (although not sure if it's possible)

But if you could make the strips change colour quickly (2 minutes was a long time to wait back then) and if they could have VERY different colours depending on the glucose levels (eg 4.x green, 5.x blue, 6.x yellow, etc) that would be cool.

The problem with the old strips was the long time the colour took to develop, and they used a greeny blue colour which went darker the higher you were and was very hard to distinguish between the different shades.

I also found another picture of the old colour test strips to give you an example of what you are trying to improve on:

http://www.wms.co.uk/Glucoflex-R_Blood_Glucose_Test_Strips.html?V=&SID=&SSID=&GID=136677

Good luck,

NiVZ
 
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Hi...I just wanted to reiterate - thank-you for trying to think about what makes like better for us diabetics - it's something that a lot of the docs don't seem to do, and (although you might not appreciate it from our answers!), it is appreciated! 🙂

I guess as well as my prior wish list from a patient's point of view, there's the boring old aspect of NHS funding...which I think over the next few years is going to get even tighter than ever before... 😱 So maybe something involving whole new manufacturing processes might be a difficult one to start with.

One thing that I had heard of was a program for younger diabetics that could be used with a Nintendo DS lite (or something, not quite up to speed on it stuff!!)...from the brief ad I saw, (I'll admit I wasn't paying 100% attention at the time!), basically this looks like it uses their diabetic care regime (so data on carbs they've eaten, insulin / activity taken, etc etc) to help them manage their diabetes along the lines of a computer game, with points being won for good control that (I think) could be used to buy other DS type games...sounded like a great idea for motivating the playstation/DS type generation to me! Have you thought about something more along those lines? I guess the IT set up costs would be way less than the cost of research into new chemical response strips, but honestly that's just a guess...

Just a thought, hope that helps & thanks again for thinking about us! 🙂
 
Hi, I'm inclined to agree with the general consensus on here, numbers are better than colours. One thing which never seems to have been thought of by the manufacturers of these testing meters is the disposal of the strips after use. The cases they come in hold the meter, the finger pricker and the testing strips but no space for any container for the used strips. Luckily the one I have at the mo has just enough room for me to cram an empty container in which I use to hold the used ones. Lets face it we are not always next to a bin and it's not the best way to dispose of something that's had blood on it anyway.

Design a carrying case for the meters which also has room for a method of storing those used strips, that would be handy. Just a thought!
 
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