Creating a Seamless Digital Experience for Pediatric Patient Families

Nemours Launches Powerful App for Asthma Patients

// By Melanie Graham //

In 2018, the patient digital toolkit is ever expanding. Between electronic health records, smartphones, texting, and telehealth, patients have access to a wide range of digital resources.

The problem is that multiple resources come with multiple logins, passwords, and in-app experiences. Digital health can be a little overwhelming and disjointed.

Recently, innovators at Nemours Children’s Health System started focusing on bringing digital tools together and providing a more robust, streamlined platform for their patients and families.

“We had several digital tools that evolved independently – some in app form and some in web form – and they were not as integrated and seamless as we wanted them to be,” says PJ Gorenc, operating officer for the Nemours Center for Health Delivery Innovation.

PJ Gorenc, operating officer for the Nemours Center for Health Delivery Innovation

Combining all of these tools was a big undertaking, Gorenc says, so the team decided to start with one condition and progress from there. The result was the Nemours App for Asthma, a comprehensive tool that helps asthma patient families monitor health, follow care plans, and communicate easily with Nemours physicians. The app, which is currently available in the iOS App Store, went live in February.

Not only is there a large patient population with asthma, but incidence of asthma has also been on the rise, Gorenc says. Asthma is a condition that families can often manage at home, but families of newly diagnosed patients often have questions about medications or care plans, and the app was designed to provide answers and assurance.

“We saw it as an opportunity to provide tools that solve some of the specific problems these patient families are facing,” Gorenc says.

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