Web-based diabetes management tools mostly ineffective - for now (Canada)

Researchers investigating the effectiveness, clinical usefulness, sustainability and usability of web-accessible tools for diabetes management determined that, despite their abundance, few practical web-accessible tools exist, according to a report published January 3 by the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. "Existing diabetes websites have wide variations in the quality of evidence provided and offer didactic information at high reading levels with little interactive technology, social support or problem-solving assistance," wrote lead author Catherine Yu, MD, who is affiliated with the University of Toronto and St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and colleagues. "Similarly, although healthcare providers increasingly use online resources for patient care, the volume, breadth, editorial quality and evidence-based methodology upon which they were developed are highly variable," she continued