Patient-Facing Mhealth Application Improves Self-Care and Symptoms of Heart Failure in Uganda

Schwartz, Jeremy I.; Wali, Sahr; Nabadda, Martha; Muhangi, Cinderella Ngonzi; Akiteng, Ann R.; Wang, Kaicheng; Gillman, Rebecca; Davis, J. Lucian; Kibalizi, Enock; Sewankambo, Nelson; Lwabi, Peter; Nalwadda, Christine; Ross, Heather J.; Cafazzo, Joseph A; Ssinabulya, Isaac

doi:10.1016/s0735-1097(22)02811-x

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Specifically, mHealth has shown promise in bolstering the health workforce, with Ebbs and colleagues showing effectiveness of combining in-person training with a mobile application to improve community health worker skills in northern Uganda. mHealth also supports self-care, with Schwartz and colleagues implementing a patient-facing mHealth application for heart failure patients in Uganda that dramatically improved both patient symptoms and exercise capacity [ 21 ]. While mHealth applications hold significant promise, implementing teams need to build trust with communities, especially in rural areas, to ensure that interventions are most effective [ 38 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cell phones provide opportunities for linking providers in clinics with patients in the community, extending opportunities for clinical intervention. Cellphone-based interventions have the potential to successfully provide appointment reminders, adherence support, counseling, and disease education, though uptake in SSA remains sparse [ 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Patient-provider experiences with chronic non-communicable disease care during COVID-19 lockdowns in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis

Olds,

Nuwagaba,

Obwoya

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a growing health burden in Sub-Saharan Africa and especially Uganda, where they account for over one third of all deaths. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health control measures such as societal “lockdowns” had a significant impact on longitudinal NCD care though no studies have looked at the lived experience around NCD care during the pandemic. Our objective was to understand the experience of NCD care for both patients and providers in southwestern Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted in-depth, in-person qualitative interviews with 20 patients living with hypertension, diabetes, and/or cardiac disease purposefully selected from the outpatient clinics at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital and 11 healthcare providers from public health facilities in Mbarara, southwestern Uganda. We analyzed transcripts according to conventional content analysis. We identified four major themes that emerged from the interviews; (1) difficulty accessing medication; (2) food insecurity; (3) barriers to the delivery of NCD clinical care and (4) alternative forms of care. Pre-existing challenges with NCD care were exacerbated during COVID-19 lockdown periods and care was severely disrupted, leading to worsened patient health and even death. The barriers to care were exacerbations of underlying systemic problems with NCD care delivery that require targeted interventions. Future work should leverage digital health interventions, de-centralizing NCD care, improving follow-up, providing social supports to NCD patients, and rectifying supply chain issues.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patient-provider experiences with chronic non-communicable disease care during COVID-19 lockdowns in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis

Olds,

Nuwagaba,

Obwoya

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Without interventions to support continuity of HIV treatment, patients receiving ART are likely to enter a new crisis of AIDS-associated morbidity and mortality due to treatment failure and opportunistic infections among patients that have had poor adherence to medication during the COVID-19 crisis 7 . To fill this gap, we designed and piloted a Mobile Phone-based patient follow-up package with virtual Medical Interventions (PMI) for patients receiving HIV treatment at the Mulago Immune Suppression (ISS) clinic under the Makerere Joint AIDS program to support adherence to medication and self-care 8 . PMI consists of i) a Mobile phone app platform that allows real-time interaction of patients and care takers with the HIV treatment provider to handle patient queries that may hinder their adherence to medication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile Phone-based Intervention to promote un-interrupted HIV treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nakanjako¹,

Mayanja²,

Rwashana³

et al. 2022

Afr H. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: Keeping HIV-infected adults away from the health care system during the COVID-19 travel restrictions, presents a challenge to HIV treatment adherence. Methods: This study focused on the initial two phases where Phase 1 designed a Makerere College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)-based application; and Phase 2 piloted patient enrolment onto the application and determined the feasibility of remote follow-up of patients receiving long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART). Results: A off/online user application, MakCHS Health app, was developed. Overall, 112 patients [(66(59%) female] receiving ART at Mulago ISS clinic, Kampala, were enrolled onto the MakCHS Health app. Up to 89 (80%) utilized the app to access medical help. Patients’ medical queries included needs for drug refills, missed taking HIV medication, medical illnesses, access to COVID-19 vaccination and other personal needs that required clinicians’ attention. Conclusion: Piloting a MakCHS Health application for patient follow-up was feasible and well-received by HIV treatment providers and patients receiving ART. We recommend scale up of the application to enroll all patients receiving long-term treatment for HIV/AIDS, and subsequently expand to. other HIV treatment programs in similar settings. Keywords: M-Health; patient follow up; Chronic HIV treatment; Antiretroviral therapy.

show abstract

Remote Monitoring for Heart Failure Management at Home

Stevenson

Ross

Rathman

et al. 2023

Journal of the American College of Cardiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Patient-Facing Mhealth Application Improves Self-Care and Symptoms of Heart Failure in Uganda

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Patient-provider experiences with chronic non-communicable disease care during COVID-19 lockdowns in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis

Patient-provider experiences with chronic non-communicable disease care during COVID-19 lockdowns in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis

Mobile Phone-based Intervention to promote un-interrupted HIV treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic

Remote Monitoring for Heart Failure Management at Home

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About