JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

As counter-cluster measures to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19), development of an efficient system for health observation outside the hospital is urgent. Personal Health Records (PHR) comprise medical, nursing, caregiving, and healthcare related data and are tied to an individual's life, based on their own judgment, and suitable for management of their physical condition on a daily basis. Importantly, there are no major differences between the items collected by daily health observation in PHR and the observation of items related to COVID-19. Until now, observation related to COVID-19 has been by disease-specific items only. We integrated health observation items specific to COVID-19 with PHR.

Objective:

This study aims to demonstrate pragmatic use of a smartphone/tablet app that supports health observation specific to COVID-19 integrated with PHR.

Methods:

We added the COVID-19 health observation content to a PHR app. At a public health center, a list is made of individuals who have been in close contact with known infected cases (health observers), and reference numbers are assigned for management. Email addresses are used by the app when the health observer sends data to the public health center. Each health observer downloads the app and installs it on their smartphone. Self-observed health data is entered into the app on a daily basis. This is then sent via the app by email at a designated time. Localized epidemiological officers can visualize the collected data using a spreadsheet macro, and monitor the health condition of all the health observers.

Results:

Across Japan, as of May 12, 2020, the app is used by more than 20,280 users and 400 facilities/organizations, centered on companies, schools, hospitals, and local governments in Japan. We used the app as part of an actual active epidemiological investigation executed at a Public Health Center. During the investigation, 72 close contacts were discovered. Before introduction of the app, all health observers would have been interviewed by telephone, a slow process that took four epidemiological officers more than two hours. After introduction of the app, information can be automatically managed at a designated time each day, and a single epidemiological officer can carry out health observation alone.

Conclusions:

Health observation by PHR for the purpose of improving health management can also have effective application for measures against large-scale infectious diseases. Individual habit of improving awareness of personal health and use of PHR for daily health management is a powerful armament against the rapidly expanding spread of infectious diseases. Ultimately, similar action may prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections.