News You Can Use: Smart Diabetes Management

Often, when my husband and I see one of our little guys struggle with life’s basic lessons – like tying a shoelace or cracking an egg – we often say, “If this was an app he’d have it mastered in 15 seconds.”

There’s no denying it – we live in a digital world.

I embrace advancements in technology, particularly when it comes to healthcare. Visiting with my family doctor, he can pull up my medical history before we’ve finished our small talk. After having blood work done, I love that I can view my results online within 12 hours. And when I have appointments with specialists, it’s terribly convenient they can chat with my family doctor – in real time – via their own messaging app.

We know app technology has paved the way for digital healthcare management, helping us to take charge of chronic health conditions, stay fit and focus on healthy eating. Today, I’m pleased to introduce you to CONTOUR® NEXT ONE. If you, or someone you love, is living with diabetes, you’ll want to read on.

Ascensia Diabetes Care was recently issued a Health Canada license for the CONTOUR® NEXT ONE blood glucose monitoring system (BGMS) in Canada. The CONTOUR NEXT ONE is a new smart meter that presents blood glucose (BG) results in a simple and easy-to-use manner that is personalized to the user.

The meter features smartLight Technology and Bluetooth to connect to smartphones. When used with the CONTOUR DIABETES App, patients can:

– View results over time
– Add events to the readings
– Share results and reports with healthcare professionals 

After a short while, each result becomes a part of the patient’s overall health story. As someone who is subjected to routine lab monitoring, I can tell you that visibility into your own health trend – and having an easy way to share that information with your practitioners – is key. And when information is presented in a simple, intuitive and easy-to-review way, it helps improve a patient’s engagement with and understanding of their results.

But, why does technology make sense when it comes to diabetes management? It’s simple. 71% of people with diabetes own a cell phone – in 10 years, maybe less, I’d wager this figure to be even higher. Of those 71%, more than half (52%) use a health or wellness app, and say they have changed their behaviour as a result. Again, folks, real-time feedback allows for real-time improvements.

Of course, I saved the best for last – published study data has shown the CONTOUR NEXT ONE meter to be remarkably accurate. Canadian industry standards for blood glucose meters have an acceptable error range of 15% from lab readings. That means readings on a meter can be 15% higher or lower, compared to the lab.*

If you or someone you love is living with diabetes, it’s time to embrace the #nextLevel of diabetes management. For more information, visit www.ascensiadiabetes.ca.

This post was sponsored by Ascensia Diabetes Care Canada Inc. The opinions on this blog are my own.

*Christiansen M et al. Accuracy and user performance evaluation of a new blood glucose monitoring system in development for use with CONTOUR ® NEXT test strips. Poster presented at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Diabetes Technology Society (DTS); 22–24 October, 2015; Bethesda, Maryland, USA.