New HIV mobile app guides treatment of patients
Metropolitan Health, the largest administrator of medical schemes in South Africa, has launched a first-of-its-kind HIV treatment guideline app aimed at healthcare professionals.
Siraaj Adams, Executive Manager of the HIV YourLife programme at Metropolitan Health, explains: “The prevalence of HIV in developing countries has led to task shifting within the healthcare workforce to accommodate the increased demand for health services.
“Consequently, the Nurses Initiated Management of Antiretroviral Therapy (NIMART) often requires further support. Clinical decision support tools are extremely valuable in maximising quality healthcare.”
The HIV Clinical Guide mobile application, developed in conjunction with The Open Medical Project South Africa (TOMPSA), reflects the latest developments in HIV medicine and clinical care and serves as a comprehensive HIV treatment guideline for all levels of healthcare professionals. The app is available across both the Android and iOS platforms.
Adams explains: “The app is designed solely for the use of healthcare professionals and is the first of its kind in terms of providing a treatment guideline based on a patient’s unique conditions.
“The app allows doctors and healthcare professionals to accurately prescribe appropriate treatment for those suffering from HIV, in line with the patient’s unique condition and symptoms.
“Simply put, it allows you to look at the patient on an individual level; how are they responding to their current treatment programme? What are their unique symptoms and what could this possibly indicate? Then it supplies an appropriate guideline for treatment, taking these factors into account. Thus it acts as a provider support tool, improving the quality of care given to patients.”
The easy-to-use ‘how to’ guide contains recommendations based on available data and guidelines from authoritative sources such as the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, the Metropolitan Health HIV YourLife Programme and the National Department of Health, and acts as a simple, easy-to-reference platform for healthcare professionals.
On-going research and testing means that it can be difficult for healthcare professionals to stay completely up to date with the latest developments in treatment. Instead of having to consult multiple journals and sources of information to ascertain the best course of treatment for a patient, the health worker can simply tap into it in one convenient place. The information is also regularly updated. “For healthcare professionals that work in outlying or rural areas, access to information resources can sometimes prove challenging so the app enables them to swiftly peruse the latest information available and accurately prescribe treatment,” says Adams.
The app serves as a useful tool for nurses in these rural areas, who are initiating anti-retroviral therapy and who would normally require supervision by a medical doctor to amend doses. As a result, the app has already started to see traction amongst healthcare professionals – particularly those in these outer-lying regions.
The app covers all aspects of HIV care from diagnosis, to starting criteria for anti-retrovirals, to switching treatment regimes. The toxicity and adverse reaction pathology calculator determines whether a patient should remain on a specific treatment or switch. The paediatric and renal dosage calculator is extremely useful in verifying if dosages are appropriately prescribed, and a comprehensive HIV drug formulary allows for easy reference of information such as contra-indications and pharmacokinetics.
“The other benefit is that the technology does not require WIFI to function. It’s localised to the device and therefore only requires WIFI when the information receives an update. This is helpful, particularly for use in areas where internet access is limited. As a result, it is a very cost-effective way to provide decision support tools to public/private sector healthcare providers.”
This app is just one example of how Metropolitan Health is embracing technology to achieve better health outcomes for South Africans.
Other innovations that fall within the Metropolitan Health stable include Hello Doctor (an interactive platform that allows individuals to engage with doctors in ‘real time’), health tracking and monitoring pedometers, and an Electronic Health Record (EHR) that collates all of a patient’s health information in one easily-accessible place. This can then be shared with the patient’s doctors and specialists for a 360 degree perspective.
“The HIV Clinical Guide mobile app is just one of the exciting initiatives in the space, and we are looking forward to seeing how it facilitates better treatment and individualised care of patients as part of a comprehensive disease management programme,” concludes Adams.
The HIV Clinical Guide mobile app is developed locally and available for download via the Apple or Google Play app stores.
ON BEHALF OF: Metropolitan Health, a division of MMI Holdings.