M♡THer - Better care for Managing Symptoms of Gestational Diabetes

[Music plays and several technology-related images appear inside a circle on the screen. The CSIRO logo appears from the circle. The vision cuts to Stephanie Nicholson, an expectant mother, who is washing her hands in a kitchen sink.]

SN: I’m Stephanie, I’m 32 weeks pregnant and I was diagnosed.

[Screen cuts to Stephanie Nicholson speaking to the camera, white a white kitchen in the background.

SN: With gestational diabetes when I was 5 weeks.

[Screen cuts to Dr Josephine Laurie, from Mater Mother’s Hospital, walking up a flight of stairs.]

JL: Gestational Diabetes is the commonest medical disorder affecting pregnancy

[Screen cuts to Dr Josephine Laurie, speaking to the camera in front of a wood panelled hallway.]

JL: and in Australia affects approximately one in eight women during the time of their maternity.

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Stephanie Nicholson washing her hands in a black kitchen sink.]

SN: I have to keep control of my blood sugar otherwise my baby could grow too big.

[Screen cuts back to Stephanie Nicholson speaking to the camera.]

SN: On top of the added kind of things, I’m thinking about being pregnant, I also have to think about

[Screen cuts to shot of Stephanie Nicholson unpacking diabetes management equipment from a small black bag.]

SN: Monitoring my sugars and recording them so that I can show them to the medical people.

[Screen cuts back to Dr Josephine Laurie speaking to the camera.]

JL: Mater Mother’s Hospital became involved when we identified that we had such a large number of women that we were really struggling to cope in a traditional model of care for gestational diabetes.

[Screen cuts to panning shot of Stephanie Nicholson typing into a mobile phone.]

JL: We reached out to CSIRO and partnered with them to use the Mother app, which has enabled us to shift the care of the woman from the hospital to their own place in a time that’s convenient to them.

[Screen cuts to Dr Kaley Butten, CSIRO post-doctoral fellow, speaking to the camera in front of a plant-filled background.]

KB: The Mother platform is an M-health platform to support the management of gestational diabetes. We use a person-facing app and a web-based platform for clinicians.

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Stephanie Nicholson’s hands as she prepares her glucometer.]

KB: The app links with a Bluetooth glucometers,

[Screen cuts back to Dr Kaley Butten speaking to the camera.]

KB: and the app talk to the web-based platform,

[Screen cuts to Dr Josephine Laurie sitting on a chair in a light room, tying onto a laptop.]

KB: and then clinicians can review those blood sugars remotely.

[Screen cuts to Dr Marlien Varnfield, CSIRO principal research scientist, speaking to the camera in front of a plant-filled background.]

MV: They can therefore make decisions on the care for the women, and in many cases, they can intervene quickly if there are issues or risks for the women with blood glucose levels that are out of control.

[Screen cuts to shot of Stephanie Nicholson, standing at a kitchen counter and typing onto a mobile phone.]

MV: We also measure other measures such as exercise, weight, and then also stress and sleep.

[Screen cuts back to Dr Marlien Varnfield speaking to the camera.]

MV: It uses notifications to the women, so clinicians can actually send their messages through a portal and then advise them on their progress.

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Stephanie Nicholson performing a finger-prick and testing her blood using a glucometer.]

SN: When I was using the pen and paper method, I would have to write down my numbers. But now using the Mother app, my glucometer sends the numbers straight to the app, so I don’t have to worry about entering anything in.

[Screen cuts back to Stephanie Nicholson speaking to the camera.]

SN: And it’s made my life a lot easier, and it’s made diabetes a lot easier, because it’s one less thing to think about.

[Screen zooms in closer to Stephanie Nicholson’s face as she speaks to the camera.]

SN: One average, I have one appointment per week, and that’s actually quite a big burden to fit into my life.

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Stephanie Nicholson scrolling on a mobile phone.]

SN: So with the app, if everything’s going well, I don’t have to go to those appointments as regularly.

[Screen cuts back to Stephanie Nicholson speaking to the camera.]

SN: I don’t have to worry about fitting that into my schedule or missing appointments or anything like that.

[Screen cuts to Stephanie Nicholson standing at a kitchen counter, using a glucometer.]

SN: When I used to get a high number, I used to get very stressed out and I didn’t know if I should get in contact with my team.

[Screen cuts back to Stephanie Nicholson speaking to the camera.]

SN: And now using the app, they just receive my numbers. So, if they see a number that’s a bit high, it’s up to them if they think I need any intervention or not. So, I have a lot of peace of mind because it’s not just up to me.

[Screen cuts to an over the shoulder view of Dr Josephine Laurie, using the Mother app on a mobile phone.]

JL: Using the Mother app, we’ve been able to take the care and expertise provided by the Mater Mother’s Hospital

[Screen cuts back to Dr Josephine Laurie speaking to the camera.]

JL: outside the walls of the hospital and into the woman’s own home. It’s much more efficient for the woman

[Screen cuts back to shot of Stephanie Nicholson, looking downwards.]

JL: Who is usually busy with jobs and child care

[Screen cuts back to Dr Josephine Laurie speaking to the camera.]

JL: and for the health practitioner we’ve been able to really reduce the schedule of care to allow more efficient management of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy.

[Screen cuts to shot of Dr Josephine Laurie showing another healthcare professional the Mother app on a mobile phone.]

RW: Previously before we had the app and COVID, we used to do group education for women.

[Screen cuts to Roisine Warwick, Diabetes Educator at Redlands Hospital, speaking directly to the camera in front of a white office background.]

RW: It used to take about 2 hours by the time we got all the equipment and got the women together. So, it meant that they had to take more time off work.

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Dr Josephine Laurie holding a mobile phone and showing another clinician the Mother app.]

RW: Now with the app, it’s just a matter of them going through the education component

[Screen cuts back to Roisine Warwick speaking to the camera.]

RW: and they can look up the information there.

[Screen cuts to shot of Dr Jospehine Laurie and another clinician speaking on an outdoor enclosed patio with trees in the background.]

RW: There’s videos and booklets on all the information that they need.

[Screen cuts back to Dr Kaley Butten speaking to the camera.]

KB: I think what’s really exciting about this research is that it is really women focused.

[Screen cuts to Dr Kaley Button and Dr Marlien Varnfield having a conversation sitting at a black table, in front of a whiteboard.]

KB: We’re interested in hearing their stories

[Screen cuts to Dr Marlien Varnfield nodding in response to conversation.]

KB: and creating a platform that is user-friendly

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Dr Kaley Butten, holding a pen in one hand and gesturing with the other whilst speaking.]

KB: and works with their lives and what they need as a woman, as a patient, and as a mother.

[Screen cuts back to Dr Marlien Varnfield speaking to the camera.]

MV: The Mother solution was developed through co-design with Redland Hospital and we tested it for its feasibility with 40 women from Redland Hospital.

[Screen cuts to Dr Marlien Varnfield sitting at an office chair, speaking to someone off-screen.]

MV: we had really exceptional outcomes. We actually improved on the app by

[Screen cuts to shot of Dr Marlien Varnfield writing in a notebook.]

MV: having it available in different languages

[Screen cuts to Dr Marlien Varnfield speaking to the camera.]

MV: and we also added some of the content from different services.

[Screen cuts to shot of Dr Marlien Varnfield and Dr Kaley Butten speaking as they walk down an office hallway.]

MV: Up to date, more than 4000 women have benefited from the solution.

[Screen cuts to Dr Marlien Varnfield and Dr Kaley Butten sitting at a computer desk and speaking.]

MV: And we’re now also going to run a randomised controlled trial with three major hospitals in Sydney.

[Screen cuts to Dr Jill Freyne, CSIRO Deputy Chief Scientist, sitting on a yellow chair in a glass meeting room, speaking directly to the camera.]

JF: Femtech is an area of innovation that is driven by women to deliver services for women. So, women creating products and services that

[Screen cuts to Stephanie Nicholson, scrolling on a mobile phone.]

JF: women need that deliver to women’s healthcare. Femtech empowers women to participate in their healthcare journey

[Screen cuts back to Dr Jill Freyne speaking to the camera.]

JF: Rather than be recipients of healthcare because they have the right information, the right skills,

[Screen cuts to Dr Josephine Laurie, holding a mobile phone in front of her face and smiling.]

JF: and the right knowledge at hand

[Screen cuts to Dr David Hansen, CEO of CSIRO’s Australian e-Health Research Centre, speaking to the camera in front of an office background.]

DH: This is a really good way to monitor the disease and to provide the information to the clinicians so that they can provide the best care for patients.

[Screen cuts to a behind shot Dr David Hansen through some plants, sitting at a computer desk.]

DH: There’s lots of challenges and barriers, of course from today’s electronic medical records

[Screen cuts to a close shot of Dr David Hansen using a computer mouse.]

DH: and existing systems, which are very expensive for a health system to implement

[Screen cuts to Dr David Hansen typing on a computer with plants in the background.]

DH: For making sure that the technical standards are in place so that the data can go from our phones

[Screen cuts to close up shot of Dr David Hansen typing on a keyboard.]

DH: to the electronic medical records safely and securely.

[Screen cuts back to Dr David Hansen speaking to the camera.]

DH: Part of the benefit of digital health is that we can increase health literacy across our population and that will actually take the pressure off our healthcare system. The more we have health literate people who are able to look after their own health is both good for their own health and good for our health system.

[Screen fills with white and the CSIRO logo appears.]