Diabetes care in the time of COVID‐19: video consultation as a means of diabetes management

Abstract

Background: This review specifically focuses on the use of video consultation in diabetes management, in comparison to standard care. The population of chronic condition sufferers in the UK is considerable and teleconsultation use has, in recent years, been explored. COVID‐19 has created an additional pressure on health services to use teleconsultation. Diabetes mellitus affects approximately four million people in the UK. If clinical outcomes are uncompromised, the benefits of using a remote service could encourage the use of video consultation for diabetes management in normal practice.Aims: A systematic review of the use of video consultation in place of standard consultation in the management of diabetes mellitus. Both clinical and non‐clinical outcomes are reviewed, in addition to patient satisfaction levels after using video consultation.Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted to select published articles from web‐based health databases. Data extraction and analysis of results followed.Results: Twelve studies were selected. Overall, the clinical outcomes (HbA1c, low‐density lipoprotein levels and blood pressure) appeared to be uncompromised with the use of video consultation. Patient satisfaction was high, with few limitations found. The economic and time saving benefits of this approach proved to be additional advantages.Conclusions: Despite there being a lack of literature identified in this field, the results support the use of video consultation in diabetes management. The evidence suggests that this approach should be utilised in the time of COVID‐19 and beyond. Future research should assess the use of video consultation over a reasonable duration through randomised controlled trials. Copyright © 2022 John Wiley & Sons.