Usability evaluation of blood glucose meters for elderly diabetic patients

Abstract

In the context of this study the usability of the first blood glucose meter that is connectable to a smartphone has been investigated by the use through diabetic patients of different ages and with different technical experiences. According to DIN ISO 2028-1 the participants had to solve usabilitytasks with the think-aloud-method. Additionally the cognitive load has been measured for each task. As control variables we asked for age and gender as well as technical affinity and Health Literacy. A total of 12 participants (mean age = 60.17 years) took part in this study. The results show that elderly diabetic patients are willing and able to use modern blood glucose meters. A blood glucose meter for elderly should store data for about three months and should be able to export data easily to the physician by a file type like CSV. The blood glucose testing strip should have a mark which describes the orientation and way it should be inserted into the blood glucose meter. The testing strip should also be illuminated to improve blood glucose measurements during nighttime. Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.