Taking DANA for a Test Drive
Jul 30, 2018, 13:48 PM
Today's guest blogger, Chris Memering, BSN, RN, CDE, has been a nurse for 15 years and a diabetes educator for the last nine. Chris is also co-leader of AADE's Technology Community of Interest.
Last week I had a chance to visit with a new graduate nurse. There are always conversations about diabetes care that come up in the hospital when the new grads come on board, but with her it was different. This new grad had a major life change in her last year of nursing school: a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes (T1D). She already owns an OmniPod and a Dexcom and told me about how much she has learned about caring for her T1D, information she wasn’t taught in school. The key takeaway from our conversation was that if you must have T1D, now is a great time to have it with all the technology available.
But for the diabetes educator, there is so much technology to keep up with. Not just pumps and CGMs, but meters and apps, digital health platforms and insulin delivery devices. Of course, there isn’t enough time in the day to read each product guide — but guess what. I have a new sidekick at work. Her name is DANA (Diabetes Advanced Network Access) and she is the brain child of AADE’s Technology Workgroup.
I have been searching through DANA’s levels over the past 2 weeks and keep finding surprises at every turn. Impressed is an understatement.
The workgroup convened in 2015 to help address the needs of the educator in this ever-changing and fast-paced world of technology as it relates to diabetes management. Their conclusion: there is a need for educators to have single place to access relevant technology information. In 2017, this technology institute became a priority for the AADE Board.
The first part of DANA was the launch of an app review, which offers reviews of apps that help people manage their diabetes and lifestyle. These reviews include clinical information, functionality, usability, operability, privacy and security information, as well as a custom review that shows how the app stacks up against the AADE7 Self-Care Behaviors™. One fabulous feature of the app review is that an educator can share the app with a person with diabetes (PWD). After receiving the link, the PWD can access the same app information and even share the information with friends or relatives by creating their own free account.
But apps aren’t the only kind technology DANA helps us stay on top of. On July 16, AADE soft-launched DANA and as co-leader for the Technology Community of Interest, I was invited to take it for a test drive. Impressed is an understatement. Now I have one site where I can look at the 73 glucose meters available on the market (I had no idea!) and get information on the Eversense implantable CGM. I love Google, but who has the time to weed through that mess? And when I need to grab a few more continuing education credits before I renew my nursing license in a couple of weeks, I have a great online education section to choose from. My absolute favorite area is “news,” under the innovation section. I love that articles from DiabetesMine and diaTribe are at my fingertips and that these peer support communities are Editorial Level Sponsors.
The full launch is set for August 6 and I cannot wait for you to see all there is to explore. I have been searching through DANA’s levels over the past 2 weeks and keep finding surprises at every turn. Impressed is an understatement.This AADE members-only resource is worth the price of admission since it is going to make diabetes educators’ jobs easier and faster. I can’t wait for you to meet DANA!
About the Author:
Chris Memering, BSN, RN, CDE, has been a nurse for 15 years and a diabetes educator for the last nine. She became a Certified Diabetes Educator in June of 2010. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Nursing from the University of Virginia. Chris is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the nursing honor society. She was a 2012 Clinical Excellence Award Winner from CarolinaEast, which is a peer recognition award for excellence in many areas of nursing and clinical expertise. Chris has served as the Chair of the North Carolina Coordinating Body for the American Association of Diabetes Educators, Inpatient Community of Interest Lead, and serves on the North Carolina Diabetes Advisory Council, as well as the advisory board to a local community pharmacy AADE DSMES Program.