Most impactful practitioner developed digital technology
This category recognises health and care practitioners who have found digital solutions to improve experience and outcomes for people they support. This may be developing a new digital technology or it may be about using an existing technology (including social media) in new and innovative ways.myCOPD – is a 24 hour management application for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
The application has been built by clinicians and tested with patients delivering a simple, functional user interface that can be accessed on any device that connects to the Internet, from smartphones to desktop computers.
myCOPD brings together patients and clinicians in a single, integrated platform delivering advanced patient self-management, education, pulmonary rehabilitation and disease management at an individual and population level. 95% of patients improved their symptom score using myCOPD, presented at the European Respiratory Society 2014.
Website:mycopd.mymhealth.com
More about myCOPD
In the next ten years, £235m could be saved by the NHS if we implemented self-management correctly (Department of Health, 2012). COPD is predicted to be the world’s third largest killer by 2030, and the NHS Five Year Forward view states that it is looking for an expanding set of NHS accredited health apps that patients will be able to use to organise and manage their own health.
Our digital innovation, created by a team of respiratory clinicians from Hampshire, is an online programme for the interactive self-management of people with COPD. myCOPD supports the principles of self-management by improving patient knowledge, skills and confidence, as well as tackling the emotional aspects of having a long term condition.
To demonstrate the efficacy of myCOPD in direct comparison to the accredited NHS service, a service development project was set-up. It ran over a ten month period, with 36 patients from all socio-economic backgrounds with a confirmed diagnosis of COPD. At the start we found that 98% of patients used their inhalers incorrectly for a variety of reasons, and the majority showed at least two critical errors in their inhaler technique. Our results showed 95% of the participants who used the system showed a mean decrease in CAT score of 4.5 (SD+/-2.8)(P<0.001) and a significant improvement in inhaler technique. The patient group who did not use the system had a mean increase in their CAT score of 2.4 points. By the end of the study, 98% of patients who used the solution were using their inhalers correctly, meaning a 95% improvement in CAT scores with no other clinical intervention.
Mr X is an 80 year old with a diagnosis of moderate COPD. He lives with his wife who has Alzheimer’s and is her sole carer. Prior to his wife’s diagnosis of Alzheimers, he attended his annual reviews and enjoyed an active lifestyle. After his wife’s diagnosis, he found it increasingly difficult to attend his reviews with his GP and had not attended sessions for the past two years. At the initial assessment of the pilot study Mr X’s COPD Assessment Tool score (CAT) was 20. After three months access to myCOPD, Mr X had improved his inhaler technique, demonstrating no critical errors in using all three devices. His CAT score reduce from 20 to just 10 suggesting his impact level was now low. He commented that, as his symptoms improved, he recognised that he was less breathless during his normal activities and he started exercising regularly using the online ‘bite-sized’ pulmonary rehabilitation programme. He had also achieved a healthy weight and reported a reduced BMI. As a carer, Mr X was unable to gain the information and advice he needed to manage his condition effectively using conventional methods. myCOPD significantly contributed towards behaviour change, encouraging him to make good decisions about his health and lifestyle, and through improving his knowledge and the skills needed to aid self-management.