SIGSAC Software: A tool for the Management of Chronic Disease and Telecare.

Chronic disease management is highly complex because multiple interventions are required to improve clinical outcomes. From the patient's perspective, his main problems are dealing with self-management without support and feeling isolated between clinical visits. A strategy for providing continuous self-management support is the use of communication technologies, such as the telephone. However, to be efficient and effective, an information system is required for telecare planning and follows up. The use of electronic clinical records facilitates the implementation of telecare, but those systems often do not allow to combine usual care (visits to the health clinics) with telecare. This paper presents the experience of developing an application called SIGSAC (Software de Información, Gestión y Seguimiento para el Autocuidado Crónico) for Chronic Disease Management and Telecare follow up.