Mobile phone app allows children to manage their asthma
A ‘health passport’ mobile phone application has been developed to support children and young people in London manage their asthma.
The app has been designed to allow nurses and other health professionals to upload an asthma action plan directly onto a patient’s phone.
It will allow them to track their own symptoms, the peak flow of their airways, and number of hospital visits, to see if the condition is getting worse.
It can also factor in daily pollen counts, localised air pollution readings and a weather tracker.
The app is the result of a joint project between Healthy London Partnership and company Tiny Medical Apps. It was launched to tie in with the partnership’s #AskAboutAsthma social media campaign.
The partnership says patients with personalised asthma action plans are four times less likely to present at hospital emergency departments.
App testing
Testing of the app will begin in October and if successful, Tiny Medical Apps plans to link its data with software at GP surgeries via the London Health and Care Information Exchange.
Company founder, and emergency doctor, Greg Burch said: ‘Each year in London alone more than 4,000 children and young people make an emergency hospital admission because of an asthma attack.
‘There are also issues with patients not taking medications properly, having poor inhaler technique or not sticking to treatment plans which we can support through the app.’
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