In a constantly changing world that is digitized at a faster pace than ever, new forms of information technology arise that make new demands on both individuals and organizations. The consequences of telemedicine and its impact on diabetic nurses duties are not fully clear and need further research.

The purpose of this study was to find out how telemedicine affects diabetic nurses duties within the public healthcare. Furthermore, the purpose of this study was to inform the reader about the consequences of telemedicine on a diabetic nurses duties and to arrive at a conclusion regarding the question at issue.

The question at issue was defined in the following way: “How does telemedicine affect a diabetic nurses duties within primärvården?” 

The authors of this study have been inspired by a interpretative scientific approach. To study the area a casestudy within VGR will be done. To answer the question at issue, a qualitative approach was deemed necessary. More specifically, the authors conducted 8 semi-structured interviews and used 2 control documents as data collection.

The result showed that blood glucose meters was a central tool enabling healthcare at a distance for diabetics. A majority of diabetic nurses recommend various applications to the patient depending on different factors, where age is the most common. Based on the differently used tools to provide telemedicine, it appears that it affects the diabetic nurse's duties but in different degrees and frequency. Examples of tasks that change as a consequence of telemedicine are duties such as “Treat anxiety of patients” as well as “Motivate patient to self-care”. The interviews that were conducted also revealed that new duties appear as a consequence of telemedicine. Examples of duties and task that appear are “Distribute and educate patient of how the blood glucose meter works”. Following-up on the patient via telephone has been found to be shorter on average and preserves its quality in many places where possible and can replace some of the duties performed during physical visits. A natural consequence of this is that the accessibility aspect that the telemedical healthcare form entails, may contribute to an increased quality of life for the patient within primärvården. Telemedicine appears to affect the diabetic nurses duties, because of the fact that several duties change as a consequence of telemedicine.