Health Care Professionals’ Perspectives on Use of Diabetes Technologies for Managing Visually Impaired Patients With Diabetes

Abstract

Background: Despite well-established safety and efficacy of diabetes technologies in management of diabetes, their utility in visually impaired patients is currently unknown. We aimed to identify providers’ preferences and challenges to prescribing diabetes technologies for visually impaired patients. Methods: A survey-based study among health care providers in the United States seeing visually impaired patients with diabetes and using diabetes technologies was conducted. The quantitative and qualitative responses were analyzed using Student t test and χ2 tests. Results: Of 79 providers, 66 completed the survey and were included in the analysis. Insulin pens and hybrid closed-loop systems were preferred insulin delivery systems for managing visually impaired patients with diabetes. Despite 96% of the providers recommending continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for their visually impaired patients with diabetes, only 55% were aware of the voice-activation feature of Dexcom G6. Voice activation to announce glucose values and audible glucose alerts were two major incentives for selecting CGM. System initialization was seen as a prevalent challenge of using CGM in visually impaired patients with diabetes. Providers who are using CGM for visually impaired patients reported benefits for patients using the voice-activation feature for six months included HbA1c reductions of >0.5% (by 87% of providers) and less hypoglycemia (by 45% of providers). Conclusions: The CGM is the preferred glucose monitoring method for managing visually impaired patients with diabetes. Providers face many challenges of initiating CGM in these high-risk patients. Voice-activation feature of G6 CGM is underutilized and providers who used the system reported positive outcomes in visually impaired patients.