Bradley Shedd
IT6443
2/14/2013
Telefonica Glucose Reader Helps Diabetics Reach New Heights
Thanks to mobile device technology, five mountain
climbers with diabetes were able to climb Mount Everest. Telefonica Digital has
developed manageable software that uses telemedicine and a tablet device to send
glucose levels to a doctor. The doctor can monitor the insulin levels of the
patients’ blood remotely from the office miles away in Spain.
The extreme mountain climbers left from Lukla to the Everest Base Camp in August
2012. The climbers arrived seven days later at the summit of Mount Everest on
September 10th. This extreme climbing team was the first diabetics to climb
Mount Everest. They were all consulted by their doctors via web cam on the
tablets that instructed the climbers on how to regulate their insulin. Josu
Feijoo became the first diabetic to conquer Mount Everest and was awarded the
blue cross by the International Diabetes Federation, their highest honor.
The technology is already on the market and uses
cloud technology with messaging and voice capabilities.
All four of the climbers carried a kit that included a tablet that came
with the management software for the diabetic illness that displayed the glucose
level over a wireless manner.
The satellite will act as a router and can connect the tablet with a Wi-Fi
network to connect to the Internet.
The application that Telfonica installed onto the tablet will read the data from
the glucometer and transfer the data safely to the doctor’s office in Spain.
The doctors can then manage the patient’s meal hours and blood sugar
level control hours (Telefonica).
The administering doctors and the climbing team for the expedition were trained
with the software before the climbing of Mount Everest began.
This mobile technology will allow people with diabetes to manage their
glucose levels no matter where they are and with a doctor’s approval.
I chose this article because this is another success
story of how mobile technology and healthcare is changing the world. Now,
diabetics will have more freedom around the world and cannot be held back by
their diabetes. New explorers and
adventures should not be contained by their disease. This new technology is
eliminating the human interaction, but creating new possibilities for people to
visit a doctor without visiting a doctor's office.
Telefonica
Expedition Glucometer Tablet.
2012. Photograph. South America.
Mellas, Rocio. "How a Tablet and a
Glucometer Helped Five Mountain Climbers on Everest."Healthcare IT News. 22 Jan.
2013. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
<http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/how-tablet-and-glucometer-helped-five-mountain-climbers-everest>.
"Four Diabetic Young People Will
Climb Mount Everest with Josu Feijoo, Equipped with an EHealth Service from
Telefónica." Telefonica Press
Office. 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
<http://pressoffice.telefonica.com/jsp/base.jsp?contenido=/jsp/notasdeprensa/notadetalle.jsp&selectNumReg=5&pagina=6&id=66&origen=notapres&idm=eng&pais=1&elem=18673>.