title: A Survey on Ubiquitous Healthcare Service Demand among Diabetic Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Advanced information technology can be used when developing diagnostic and treatment strategies to provide better care for diabetic patients. However, the levels of need and demand for the use of technological advances have not been investigated in diabetic patients. We proposed and developed an individualized, ubiquitous (U)-healthcare service using advanced information technology for more effective glucose control. Prior to our service initiation, we surveyed patient needs and other pertinent information.
  
  
  METHODS
  During August 2009, we conducted a 34-item questionnaire survey among patients with diabetes who were older than 40 years in two certain hospitals in Korea.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the 228 participants was 61.2±9 years, and males made up 49.1% of the sample. Seventy-one percent replied that they wanted individualized healthcare service, and they also wanted their health information to be delivered through mobile devices such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant (40.4%). Most patients had never heard of U-healthcare services (81.1%); however, after explaining the concept, 71.1% of participants responded that they would use the service if it was provided. Despite their willingness, participants were concerned about technical difficulty in using the service (26.3%) as well as the cost of the service (29.8%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study suggests that more than 70% of diabetic patients are interested in using U-healthcare services. To encourage widespread use, the application program or device of U-healthcare services should be simple, easy to use and affordable while also including a policy for the protection of private information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Soo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: So-Youn
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jung Im
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Min Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Sei Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Soo Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Seon Mee
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Hong Il
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hye Seung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Kyong Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jun Oh
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Hayley
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Hak Chul
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Jang