Ginger
Do people actually use diabetes management apps at all?

I was discussing a project with someone the other day. When we were about to finish, he started to talk about a diabetes management app his company plans to fund. He has no medical background, and has no diabetes related work experience, but he tried to convince me that the app actually works (I was not convinced apparently, haha). 

When you think about it, there are so many medical/health related apps online, maybe too many. Do people actually download or use them at all? They may be helpful to get patients engaged in their own health care. That's the only benefit I could think of. What do you think? Have you ever downloaded any such apps? What do you feel about it?

2017年4月2日 14:50
评论 · 4
1
I think, we should make a difference between medical and health apps. Health apps count steps, pulse, calories, hours of sleep etc. They are harmless and exist just for fun. A lot of people use them. Medical apps help doctors and patientes to control disease. They are additional tools. They can be used as long as they aren't overrated by patients. For example, someone can decide recalculate their insulin dose instead of visiting doctor. Unfortunately, nowadays people trust internet more than real doctors. Thus, new medical apps which overflow the market can become rather an obstacle for a doctor and a peril for a patient. 
2017年4月2日
1

"when you think about it, there are so many..."

I don't even have a phone actually.  But I can imagine a diabetes app being helpful, similar to like dieting apps that would help one track calories, just for tracking sugar intake.  If that's what it is.  But I could also imagine that there already is such a diabetes app so, not sure another one was worth it.

I think in general the whole "app" economy is severely inflated, overrated.  Like the internet marketing, ad economy, you're leveraging this potentially huge market, so even if you only get a few customers, you're making money.  So I can certainly imagine a few people using, for instance, a diabetes app.  Whether or not there's a conversion to some kind of return on the, admittedly, very meager investment, I don't know.

有的空闲的时候我应该试图翻译这个对中文。

2017年4月2日

Hi Igor,

Thanks for the comment! Good point! I totally agree with you! 

Health apps are just for fun, and generally speaking, they should be harmless. However, medical related apps could be dangerous to patients if not used properly. 

2017年4月2日

Hi Peter, 

Thanks for the correction! I've edited the related parts.

You mentioned "I don't even have a phone." That's actually part of the reason why I'm skeptical about this whole diabetes app thing. Yes, the population is huge, but people who have type II diabetes are mostly older ones. Some of them may not own a smart phone.  

Even if they do own a smart phone, how do you stand out from all those apps and make people get to know, download, and then use yours? There are more than 200 diabetes management apps (2014 data) in Chinese language already. 

I have a smart phone, but I've never downloaded any such apps anyway. 

Correction to your last sentence:

的时候我应该试把这段翻译这个对中文。

2017年4月2日