Sensotrend electronic diary: Helping diabetics to care for themselves
18.2.2014
Globally, a person dies of diabetes once every six seconds. In Finland, the total costs of the treatment of diabetes are roughly 15 per cent of all health care costs. There is a global market of hundreds of billions for good diabetes treatment solutions.
No wonder that when Mikael Rinnetmäki has been presenting the prototype for the electronic diabetes logbook by Sensotrend, investors and customers have been very interested.
An electronic diary helps diabetics to manage their blood glucose levels. The service uses devices intended for monitoring activity and meals as well as smartphone applications for information input. All information affecting treatment is collected in one single user interface.
– Everything affects everything else. Our system not only measures the blood glucose level, but also how different things – such as sports – affect blood glucose level and how you can adjust your own blood glucose level, when you know what you are going to do on a given day.
Even better control
Mikael Rinnetmäki thinks that Tampere is a good place for a start-up to do development work. In particular, he praises the facilities offered by Protomo at the New Factory, expert help, cheerleading, pitching development, peer support – and the buzz that Tredea has also helped to create.
Mikael Rinnetmäki believes that making it easier to monitor one's blood glucose levels will motivate diabetics to take even better care of themselves. The easier it is to collect data, the more information the patients can share with their nurses and doctors, and the time at the clinic is spent more effectively. The more data is collected, the more certain the basis is for any possible changes in treatment. Thanks to a good information base, diabetics can compare their experiences and learn from each other.
– The patients' own role in their treatment increases and the feeling of control over diabetes improves.
Mikael Rinnetmäki knows what he's talking about. 15 years ago, he was diagnosed with diabetes. Ten years went by “without much worry,” but then he realised the possibility of the complications of diabetes and became concerned.
– I had also followed the health care systems and tools for 15 years. I had to start wondering if something better could be done.
It is very difficult to go forward with the large IT actors in the health care business. The crucial impulse was the opening of Taltioni in early 2013, which is a personal health file for Finnish citizens.
– Even small innovative companies can join in to develop the health care system. Thanks to Taltioni, people can trust even small companies, and the system ensures that the information is secure.
Sensotrend's prototype has been launched, and the model is now being tested by customers who have applied for the test group and developed based on the feedback. There are three employees in the company.
– The goal is to make Sensotrend available to all Finns via Taltioni during 2014. Our main competitor is a plain old paper notebook.