A Patient Self-Checkup App for COVID-19: Development and Usage Pattern Analysis

Abstract

Background Clear guidelines for a patient with suspected COVID-19 infection are unavailable. Many countries rely on assessments through a national hotline or telecommunications, but this only adds to the burden of an already overwhelmed health care system. In this study, we developed an algorithm and a web application to help patients get screened. Objective This study aims to aid the general public by developing a web-based application that helps patients decide when to seek medical care during a novel disease outbreak. Methods The algorithm was developed via consultations with 6 physicians who directly screened, diagnosed, and/or treated patients with COVID-19. The algorithm mainly focused on when to test a patient in order to allocate limited resources more efficiently. The application was designed to be mobile-friendly and deployed on the web. We collected the application usage pattern data from March 1 to March 27, 2020. We evaluated the association between the usage pattern and the numbers of COVID-19 confirmed, screened, and mortality cases by access location and digital literacy by age group. Results The algorithm used epidemiological factors, presence of fever, and other symptoms. In total, 83,460 users accessed the application 105,508 times. Despite the lack of advertisement, almost half of the users accessed the application from outside of Korea. Even though the digital literacy of the 60+ years age group is half of that of individuals in their 50s, the number of users in both groups was similar for our application. Conclusions We developed an expert-opinion–based algorithm and web-based application for screening patients. This innovation can be helpful in circumstances where information on a novel disease is insufficient and may facilitate efficient medical resource allocation.

Telehealth-Based Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of Features and Challenges

“…For instance, providing appropriate protection for the emergency department (ED) staff and minimizing the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), using onsite telemedicine increase safety for both physicians and nurses ( 27 ). Adequacy and accuracy of subjective patient assessment and accuracy of tele-tools were identified as the second barrier ( 24 , 28 , 35 , 40 , 43 , 49 , 61 , 64 , 82 , 83 ). This issue was raised by physicians because they believe tele visit limits the ability of providers to perform a complete physical examination and measure vital signs.…”

The medical and societal impact of big data analytics and artificial intelligence applications in combating pandemics: A review focused on Covid-19

“…This category also includes the design of mobile apps such as “Check Your Mask,” which validates the correct way to wear a protection mask by taking a selfie and suggests improvements to limit the spread of Covid-19 and protect people from infection through personalized measures ( Hammoudi et al, 2020 ). Moreover, it includes mobile-friendly applications and sensors that incorporate algorithms that consider epidemiological factors like fever, breath sounds and other symptoms to help patients decide when to seek medical care ( Heo et al, 2020 ). This kind of tool provides immediate healthcare to people who have difficulty moving, such as the elderly or disabled, making it possible to be included in medical treatment.…”

A review of mobile applications developed by academics for COVID-19

“…The method of manual entry information was also adopted in symptom assessment applications and The developed apps were based on the manual input of symptoms either by sending SMS [13], answering a questionnaire [11,12,14,17,19,20], sending an email [10], or scanning a QR code [16]. However, depending on user information entry has limitations: users might not be familiar with information and communications technology [10] and the use of a smartphone device requires intensive education and knowledge on the part of the users, especially older adults [19].…”

“…The review explored six applications that used questionnaire analysis for two purposes: symptom assessment [11,14,19,20] and symptom monitoring and management [11,12,14,17]. However, we identified three applications that used SMS services to achieve symptom monitoring and management [13], symptom assessment [13], and contact tracing [22].…”