Smartphone App Helps Monitor Chronic Kidney Disease

Smartphone app helps patients with chronic kidney disease to take their prescribed medications properly, as per a one-year trial in Washington, DC.

The app – eKidneyCare sends patients monthly reminders to review their medications and share changes or problems with clinicians to safeguard their health. This allows in preventing adverse drug reactions and other medication errors that can endanger patients.

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‘Smartphone app – eKidneyCare helps patients with chronic kidney disease to take their prescribed medications properly by sending monthly reminders to review their medications and share changes or problems with clinicians to safeguard their health. The sustainability of the intervention showed that this high level of patient engagement reduced the rate and severity of medication discrepancies. ’

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Improper medication history puts the health of individuals with chronic conditions, at risk. Such "medication discrepancy" may result when patients don't have all of the information they need to ensure that they're following their doctors' advice.

To address this problem, the research team had designed and evaluated the effectiveness of an interactive mobile phone-based app using a one-year trial on 182 outpatients with advanced chronic kidney disease. The app actively engages patients to identify and resolve medication discrepancies and forge a sense of "therapeutic alliance" through better connectivity with healthcare providers.

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"We hypothesized that by promoting a sense of self-control and confidence in managing their condition, this would translate into increased patient safety," says Dr. Logan. Alexander G. Logan, MD, FRCP(C), who led the study.

The medication feature that prompts patients to review medications monthly and report changes are synced with pharmacies in the eKidneyCare app. MyMedRec is a commercially available stand-alone app for storing medication and other health information that patients can share with clinicians. At the end of the study, the eKidneyCare group had fewer total medication discrepancies compared with MyMedRec (median 0.45 vs. 0.67).

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The eKidneyCare use also reduced the severity of clinically relevant medication discrepancies, including those with the potential to cause serious harm. Usage data revealed that 72% of patients randomized to eKidneyCare completed 1 or more medication reviews per month, whereas only 30% of patients in the MyMedRec group kept their medication profile on their phone.

"In this one-year study, we demonstrated the sustainability of the intervention and showed that this high level of patient engagement reduced the rate and severity of medication discrepancies, an indirect indicator of improved medication safety," says Dr. Logan.

Source-Medindia