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. 2019 Feb 21;21(2):e12997.
doi: 10.2196/12997.

Digital Health Professions Education on Diabetes Management: Systematic Review by the Digital Health Education Collaboration

Zhilian Huang  1   2 , Monika Semwal  1 , Shuen Yee Lee  3 , Mervin Tee  4 , William Ong  2 , Woan Shin Tan  1   2   5 , Ram Bajpai  1 , Lorainne Tudor Car  6
Affiliations

Digital Health Professions Education on Diabetes Management: Systematic Review by the Digital Health Education Collaboration

Zhilian Huang et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: There is a shortage of health care professionals competent in diabetes management worldwide. Digital education is increasingly used in educating health professionals on diabetes. Digital diabetes self-management education for patients has been shown to improve patients' knowledge and outcomes. However, the effectiveness of digital education on diabetes management for health care professionals is still unknown.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and economic impact of digital education in improving health care professionals' knowledge, skills, attitudes, satisfaction, and competencies. We also assessed its impact on patient outcomes and health care professionals' behavior.

Methods: We included randomized controlled trials evaluating the impact of digitalized diabetes management education for health care professionals pre- and postregistration. Publications from 1990 to 2017 were searched in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, and Web of Science. Screening, data extraction and risk of bias assessment were conducted independently by 2 authors.

Results: A total of 12 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were heterogeneous in terms of digital education modality, comparators, outcome measures, and intervention duration. Most studies comparing digital or blended education to traditional education reported significantly higher knowledge and skills scores in the intervention group. There was little or no between-group difference in patient outcomes or economic impact. Most studies were judged at a high or unclear risk of bias.

Conclusions: Digital education seems to be more effective than traditional education in improving diabetes management-related knowledge and skills. The paucity and low quality of the available evidence call for urgent and well-designed studies focusing on important outcomes such as health care professionals' behavior, patient outcomes, and cost-effectiveness as well as its impact in diverse settings, including developing countries.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus; evidence-based practice; health personnel; learning; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flowchart of included studies.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of bias summary: review authors' judgement about each risk of bias item for each included study. The symbol "+" indicates a low risk of bias, "?" indicates unclear risk of bias and "-" indicates a high risk of bias. The methodology of 2 studies (Crenshaw 2010 and Billue 2012) are duplicated with (Estrada 2011) and not presented in this figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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