Asthma Health App helps research and improve your daily life

When ResearchKit was first launched, the idea was to create a platform that would enable quicker, easier, and larger-scale medical studies to be conducted. The platform eliminates the need for study participants to make trips to the hospital to fill out questionnaires and be interviewed, allowing everyting to be done right from their iPhone. On top of that, though, some ResearchKit apps are even improving patients’ quality of care from their primary doctor. Asthma Health App by Mount Sinai, developed by LifeMap Solutions, is a prime example of this.

What the app does

For research purposes, Asthma Health tracks your daytime and nighttime asthma symptoms and how they affect your daily activity. You can monitor your daily usage of controller and rescue inhalers, and identify triggers like colds, increased physical activity, strong smells, and so forth. The app also helps you track emergency department visits, medical visits, and changes in medication, and the program integrates with Apple Health.

Updates based on how the app is used

What LifeMap and Mount Sinai didn’t envision was for users to take the app along with them to their regular doctors’ appointments. The app helps track patients’ asthma symptoms and inhaler usage, and patients began showing their Dashboard information to their doctors. In some cases, treatment plans have actually been changed based on this information.

When LifeMap Solutions learned about this, they implemented a new Doctor’s Dashboard. This is a condensed version of all of the data collected, in a provider-specific screen, allowing doctors to see in a familiar way how their patients are dealing with their asthma.

Continued changes to the app

One of the latest features of the app is integration with Mount Sinai’s electronic health record system. This allows patients and doctors within the Mount Sinai system to easily track their asthma information through the clinical setting.

Exciting and revolutionary times in medicine

LifeMap Solutions CEO, Corey Bridges, expressed how interesting and exciting it is to see the app evolve based on user feedback.

We’re smart enough people and all, but nobody is as smart as everybody, is the takeaway from all of that. It’s incredibly rewarding to be able to bring the user-centered development process into the healthcare industry. It’s pretty exciting and revolutionary. Health care is not known for its dynamism.

How can you get involved?

If you’re affected by this respiratory disorder, you can download Asthma Health by Mount Sinai for free on the App Store. It is designed for iPhone and iPod touch, and requires iOS 8 or later. There are no ads or in-app purchases.

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