Jeroen S de Bruin
Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Title: Patient and physician perspectives on nutritional monitoring using a smartphone application for cancer outpatients
Biography
Biography: Jeroen S de Bruin
Abstract
In recent years, the number of mobile health (mHealth) applications available have increased dramatically. These applications register data related to a person’s mental and/or physical state, e.g. for disease self-management, cessation of unhealthy habits, and promotion of healthy behaviour. Given the increased use of such applications, a potentially huge amount of personal health information (PHI) is generated. Besides self-management of health, PHI from mHealth applications could also help to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. In this study, we evaluate a system that integrates PHI from a nutritional monitoring mHealth application for cancer outpatients with data gathered in clinical routine, for the use in a clinical decision support system (CDSS) for nutritional triage. In a clinical pilot study, we recruited 25 oncology outpatients to use a forementioned mHealth application. Data recorded from this application were forwarded to a data repository of the Medical University of Vienna, where they were processed by the CDSS. The results could be accessed directly from the Vienna General Hospital information system. Afterwards, a qualitative questionnaire was taken among patients and medical experts involved with the system. Among patients (N=25), 91% found the application useful as a remote tool for detecting cancer-related malnutrition, and about 75% indicated it should be institutionalized. Among clinicians (N=5), the CDSS was perceived a useful, and enabled them to initiate nutritional interventions sooner. However, its usefulness was limited still as regular nutrition monitoring is not a compulsive part of the overall care workflow.