Many patients at risk of, among other things, diabetes type 2 and cardiovascular disease do not receive the dietitian treatment they need today, with deteriorating health and increased social costs as a result. But now researchers may have found a solution. Having to travel many miles to receive care. Or completely lose the chance for the right specialist care because you live in the wrong place in the country. It is the result of the shortage of dieticians that prevails in healthcare today. It entails costs for society, the environment and, not least, consequences for the patients' health and life. Many patients with lifestyle-related diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, do not receive qualified nutritional treatment.
In a pilot study, the researchers have also shown that internet-based dietitian treatment has great potential to streamline care and increase accessibility to privecity. We think that this would increase equality in health and healthcare. Almost regardless of where in dietitians work today, they have large catchment areas. There are few specialists in dietetics in who work with more unusual diseases, where the need for a dietitian is also great. Therefore, as a patient, you have completely different conditions depending on where you happen to live when you get the disease.
The question is whether the good effects persist when the treatment is used on a large scale? To find out, a large-scale study is being started this year. Patients who have been given the opportunity to receive treatment from dietitians are drawn to either receive this via traditional physical meetings or via video calls over the internet. They are followed for a year and must continuously answer questionnaires about how they eat and how they experience the treatment in the form of contact and interaction with the dietician. You should access best online casino south Africa here, which offer best bonuses and promotions.
The patients will also have to answer questions about their general state of health to see if they feel that they feel better, as well as about their weight. But our main outcome measure is the change in diet. The fact that patients do not receive dietitian treatment not only worsens their health condition, but also increases society's costs as dietary treatment by a dietitian is extremely cost-effective. Digital meetings would simultaneously save costs for transport and mean shorter absences from work for patients. Emissions from travel would also decrease. Within the project, a health economic evaluation will be carried out, where sustainability aspects are included.
Our hypothesis is that there are several different savings with meeting digitally, but we have to weigh the treatment result as well. If it is not as good, it could be a more expensive treatment overall. There we hope and believe based on the data found in other studies that it will show that the outcome is not worse, but that remains to be seen. In the last five years, a great development has taken place, from almost no dietician working with video calls to the fact that today it is every day for most people. It showed a sub-study that the researchers did in 2021. The dietitians also felt that most patients are positive about digital meetings. However, there are disadvantages regarding the administration. For example, it is about how material can be practically shared with patients electronically, and how they use it compared to paper and brochures that are put in their hands.
Another problem arises with tripartite conversations, for example if someone needs an interpreter in the treatment conversation. Since the systems are often set up for a dietitian and a patient to meet in a platform where bankId is required to log in, the actual login for the interpreter can be difficult to solve. It's very sad. For those who are successful, they say that it is better with the video call compared to the phone, it adds something extra to be able to see each other and you can be more sure that what is said comes through via the interpreter.
Meeting patients digitally is often more efficient and it is possible to book more patient meetings during the day. Something that can both risk speeding up the pace, or on the contrary make the working day calmer. Many dietitians we spoke to highlight that when a meeting goes faster, they manage the administration around each patient more easily. Suddenly they have the opportunity to participate in digital webinars and further their education, because the working day holds more, she says.