The “Mikidney” smartphone app pilot study: Empowering patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Abstract

SUMMARY Background Successful management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) depends on patients′ self‐management efforts. Mobile health applications can empower patients with CKD to manage their own condition. We developed, with patient involvement, the MiKidney smartphone application. Aim Evaluate the MiKidney app as an aid to empowering patients with CKD to become more engaged in the management of their condition. Design Pilot single group pre‐ and post‐test intervention study. Setting Renal clinic of an urban University Hospital in Ireland. Patients Aged over 18 years with CKD and able to use a smartphone. Sample size based on expression of interest and availability of free smartphones (n = 23); three patients withdrew prior to T3 data collection (n = 20). Measurements Data were collected at T1 (baseline), T2 (week 6) and when exiting the study (T3, 12 weeks) on physical activity, body measurements and blood parameters. Information on app usage and patient satisfaction collected at T2 and T3. Results There was significant improvement in the six‐minute walking test (p = 0.02), total cholesterol (p = 0.023) and LDL cholesterol (p = 0.005) serum levels and a significant decrease in waist circumstance (p = 0.00) and body fat (p = 0.01) measurements. Eighteen participants found the MiKidney app easy to navigate. Conclusion The MiKidney study highlights the viability and usability of the MiKidney app. It has the potential to empower and motivate patients to understand and self‐manage their condition by providing them with the necessary information on renal diet and symptom management. Additionally, tools such as exercise tracker and reminder alerts are available on a readily accessible user‐friendly platform.

The Mobile Health Readiness of People Receiving In-Center Hemodialysis and Home Dialysis

“…Mobile health, also known as mHealth, has been defined by the World Health Organization as medical and public health practice through the use of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants, and other wireless devices (3). In interventional studies, mobile health has demonstrated improvement in patient-reported outcome measures (4), reduced use of health resources (5), and cost savings to health care services (6). In dialysis care, mobile health has been used to assist diet monitoring (7-10), treatment and symptom monitoring (11), and lifestyle management (12)(13)(14).…”

The use of mobile applications in urology. A systematic review

“…Nine quantitative studies were considered: three RCTs; [5][6][7] one pilot single-group pre-and post-test intervention study; 8 one crosssectional survey; 9 and four observational studies. [10][11][12][13] Out of the entire corpus, three studies were conducted in Sweden [5][6][7] ; one in Ireland 8 ; one in the US; 9 one in Australia; 10 one in the Czech Republic; 11 one in Spain; 12 and one in Canada.…”

“…Nine quantitative studies were considered: three RCTs; [5][6][7] one pilot single-group pre-and post-test intervention study; 8 one crosssectional survey; 9 and four observational studies. [10][11][12][13] Out of the entire corpus, three studies were conducted in Sweden [5][6][7] ; one in Ireland 8 ; one in the US; 9 one in Australia; 10 one in the Czech Republic; 11 one in Spain; 12 and one in Canada. 13 In the studies examined, the following diseases were present: stress urinary incontinence (SUI); [5][6][7]9 chronic kidney disease (CKD); 8,10,13 and overactive bladder (OAB) 11,12 (See attached Tables 1, 2, 3).…”

“…[10][11][12][13] Out of the entire corpus, three studies were conducted in Sweden [5][6][7] ; one in Ireland 8 ; one in the US; 9 one in Australia; 10 one in the Czech Republic; 11 one in Spain; 12 and one in Canada. 13 In the studies examined, the following diseases were present: stress urinary incontinence (SUI); [5][6][7]9 chronic kidney disease (CKD); 8,10,13 and overactive bladder (OAB) 11,12 (See attached Tables 1, 2, 3). A total of 625 patients were analysed in this review, 438 of whom were women, and the average age of participants in all studies was 51.2 years (See attached Table 3).…”

“…It also has a 'My Renal Rating' scoring scheme with a traffic light system providing feedback to users including motivational messages. 8 B-wom was designed as a personal tool for women's urinary, bowel, sexual and pregnancy health, including care for the pelvic floor at every stage of life from youth to pregnancy to postpartum to menopause. B-wom educates women on pelvic floor exercises using an interactive interface, which includes many short videos.…”