Practical patient apps

Written by Kate McDonald on 11 December 2014.

This article first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine.

Do a search on iTunes or Google Play and you’ll be inundated with apps for health, fitness and wellbeing, most aimed at ‘the worried well’ and many of dubious worth to say the least. For patients with a chronic illness, there are some apps of practical use that clinicians can use in concert with their patients. Here’s a selection of some of the more impressive patient-focused apps released in the last year.

Medical technology company iSonea released a smartphone app called AsthmaSense in September to help asthmatics manage their condition.

The app, available for iOS and Android devices, is aimed at helping asthmatics follow their asthma action plan, providing active reminders to take medications or lung function tests and allowing the user to keep a journal of symptoms and recordings of peak flow and wheeze rate.

It also allows users to receive alerts when their asthma is judged to be well controlled or poorly controlled – alerting them to a potential attack – to add emergency contact information and review up to two months of medication use. The app will also allow asthmatics to share their data with doctors or family members.

iSonea plans to release future versions of AsthmaSense to incorporate its WheezoMeter device, which uses the company’s acoustic respiratory monitoring (ARM) technology to measure wheezing. In future versions, the company plans to support other operating platforms and incorporate features such as a sensor that detects changes in environmental conditions such as air quality and weather.

To read the full story, click here for the November 2014 issue of Pulse+IT Magazine.

Practical patient apps

Add comment

Sign up for Pulse+IT website access

Practical patient apps

Add comment

Sign up for Pulse+IT eNewsletters

Sign up for Pulse+IT website access