CloudConnect: Evaluating the use of precision medicine in treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

Mobile health applications have become increasingly important in long-term management of chronic illness and precision medicine. Mobile health applications allow patients to track and log data to manage chronic illness and/or improve their health outcomes over time. Information gathered with these applications will help doctors understand the patient's lifestyle habits outside of the clinic leading to more informed and reliable recommendations. However, many mobile healthcare applications have had significant difficulty encouraging user adoption and maintaining long-term user engagement. Barriers include: (i) the disruption caused by having to constantly log personal health data, (ii) the lack of features that incentivize user engagement, and (iii) unappealing or unfriendly user interface. This paper presents design requirements for CloudConnect, a cloud-based smartphone application for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) that facilitates interactions between patients with diabetes and their local caregivers. CloudConnect collects, analyzes, and shares Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) data and gently prompts/cues users to confirm treatment related events (meals and bolus) based on trends in the CGM data. By simplifying the process of tracking blood sugar levels, insulin injections, the CloudConnect will contribute to enhanced patient engagement and reduced user fatigue.