The development of a mobile phone app for self-management of medication post caesarean section

Dr Alexandra Tebbett (ST4) Dr Smita Gohil (Cons) – South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust. App design by Rory Manning

 

Self-administration of medication can:

Empower patients

Free up staff time

Reduce cost

Streamline discharges

 

Good self-administration needs good self-management:

 

üPlanning doses

üRecording drug administration

üTracking pain scores

 

Otherwise, it risks:

×Overdoses

×Inadequate pain control

 

Important when sleep deprived with a new baby! = Multiple Datixes!

 

An Audit

Week-long audit of all post c-section patients on their self-management.

Only 63% kept any record of the medication they self-administered!

Why not?

×No pen

×Paper chart out of reach

×Found it easier to set reminder alarms on their phone

 

This resulted in very varied dosing and a preference to use opioids.

More than half used their phone, and all had their phone to hand.

So why not use your phone?

 

To improve access to medication information, promote accurate record keeping and provide guidance on when to take further doses, self-administration recording could be adapted to a modality more suitable to new mothers- a mobile phone app.

 

•Designed for simplicity

•The patient simply selects which medications she is prescribed

•Track pain scores

•Information for patients with contact details for unit

•All data is saved anonymously

•Easy Auditing! Anonymous data uploaded to a secure online server for review or audit.

 

Record a dose – app shows red cross and tells you when your next dose is due

Next dose due – app shows blue plus and reminds you when you last took it

All doses can be reviewed in the history at any time

 

Easily adapted to other post-operative environments.

Scan the QR code to test the app out yourself!