Let me start by thanking Barbara for letting me share my voice (and, by proxy, the voice of our digital team) in this space.  Rest assured, she will be back!

So, who am I?  Well, my name is Sid Misra and I am leading the digital development efforts at Healthy Interactions.  I want to use my blog time to introduce you to the team behind digital at Healthy Interactions and talk a little about why we even exist.  In fact, let me start with that.

Two years ago I had the opportunity to sit in on a few Conversation Map sessions.  I was blown away!  This wasn’t simply education; it was truly about ENGAGEMENT.  Group discussion leading to an individual leaving a session feeling more engaged in their health management. While it was great to see them walk out the door with new-found confidence, it also struck me that they were walking out the door!  How could we harness and maximize this confidence beyond the classroom.  Enter the development of our digital coaching platform, hi.goals.  hi.goals allows patients to set goals in an app, and connects their HCP coach for ongoing support.

Now, before I get too far, I know digital is not the answer for everyone. There rarely is a one-size-fits-all approach to anything, let alone something as personal as patient care.  But imagine if we could make it personal and engaging - well, we can! 

Take digital coaching or care coordination solutions as an example – digital facilitates the sharing of information (like personal goals or blood glucose logs) and provides a communication channel to ask a question and receive support outside of a clinical setting. Digital doesn’t have to replace interactions – in fact, digital can help facilitate meaningful, “healthy interactions”.

We need to look no further than the Conversation Map sessions to start dreaming up a wish list of personal and engaging digital functionality: interactive quizzes or challenges, group forums and social feeds, forming care groups, and more!  Our digital team is already in the process of planning, designing and developing, and we look forward to sharing more about those plans and releases as we go forward. I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least introduce the technical brains and brawn behind our digital efforts:

• Navid Dena – Product Manager
• Dmitry Tsukinovsky – Senior Developer
• Dhrupa Patel – Developer
• Anna Gofeld – Lead Coach

This doesn’t include the many others at Healthy Interactions that lend their voice, vision and experience to the digital team, but we’ll have to wait to introduce them all, and share more thoughts on digital engagement until another time!

We recently initiated a LinkedIn Group called, “Diabetes Educators Using Conversation Maps® and Digital Coaching Platform”. The purpose of the group is to share best practices for both Conversation Map sessions and the new hi.goals digital platform. If you are new to digital, we encourage you to join the group so you can learn from your peers.  Here is the link to join: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8466330.  Here is how to download and use the platform app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOh1MPMP4-0.