JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Patient empowerment can be associated with better health outcomes, especially for chronic diseases.

Objective:

Concerto is a mobile application designed to promote patient empowerment in an in-patient setting.

Methods:

The application was conceptualized and prototyped during a hackathon. It uses Hospital Information System Data to offer key functionalities: a care schedule, access to targeted medical information, to practical information, to information about the on-duty care team, and to a medical round preparation module. Following a feasibility study, funding was obtained, and the application developed and implemented in 4 pilot divisions, using institution-owned iPads.

Results:

The project lasted for two years with effective implementation in the 4 pilot divisions, within budget. The induced workload on caregivers impaired the project sustainability and warranted a change in our implementation strategy. The presence of a killer-function would have facilitated the deployment. Furthermore, our experience is in line with the well-accepted need for both a high-quality user-training and a good selection of super-users. Finally, by presenting HIS data directly to the patient, Concerto has highlighted them to be not fit-for-purpose and has triggered data curation and standardization initiatives.

Conclusions:

This implementation report presents a real-world example of designing, developing, and implementing a patient-empowering mobile application in a University Hospitals’ in-patient setting. One limitation of the study is the lack of definition of a Key Success Indicator.