Libby Dowdall, Communications Coordinator, Project HealthDesign National Program Office
Kudos to two of our past project teams who recently published papers in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The first paper, written by the Assisting Older Adults with Transitions of Care team from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, takes a look at how personal health applications helped elders to self-manage medications. They found that personal health applications intended to help elders manage medications should:
- Provide links to reliable information on side effects, drug interactions and other medication-related concerns in a way that is clear, concise and easy to navigate;
- Facilitate communication between patients, doctors and pharmacists through electronic messaging and health information exchange; and
- Allow patients to selectively disclose medication information to different clinicians.
Co-authored by the Assisting Older Adults with Transitions of Care team and the My-Medi-Health team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the second paper provides a case report for developing two complementary personal health applications on a shared personal health record (PHR) platform. These teams built applications that catered to two very different user groups: My-Medi-Health assisted children with complex health needs, whereas Colorado Care Tablet aided elders with medication management as they transitioned from the hospital back to home environments. The insights and recommendations the teams share in this paper provide many take-aways for developing other types of personal health applications.
Read the papers:
