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Examples Of Asthma

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A few examples of mHealth apps that use technology in novel ways to enhance chronic pulmonary disease self-management are Wizdy (LifeGuard Games, Inc., Brighton, MA); The Wizdy Pets app is designed to help children with asthma understand their disease by learning about asthma triggers and the importance of taking medications. It accomplishes this via a game that children play involving taking care of a fire-breathing dragon “pet” that has asthma. Care TRx (Gecko Health Innovations, Inc., Cambridge, MA), and Propeller Health (Propeller Health, Madison, WI) have developed apps for monitoring medication utilization. Care TRx and Propeller Health apps work in conjunction with Bluetooth-enabled sensors that attach to standard inhaler medications …show more content…

They have partnered with an entity called Inspire (Princeton, NJ), which is an online patient engagement platform. They offer an easy to use website, (http://www.inspire.com/groups/asthma-and-allergy-foundation-of-america/) where patients and other various stakeholders can communicate and network to provide on line support and educational resources. Another online community focused on asthma is the AsthmaCommunityNetwork (http://www.asthmacommunitynetwork.org), sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Allies Against Asthma program, and the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. nonprofit organization. The is an educational resource opportunity to provide asthma care, asthma management plans and discussion forums for dissemination of educational information. The COPD Foundation (http://www.copdfoundation.org) created an integrated patient and physician registry called COPD360 and sponsored by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP (Wilmington, DE). This offers an opportunity to identify new COPD treatments, which is the largest effort in COPD that includes patient-centered …show more content…

Patients are becoming armed with devices that can empower, monitor, track and even measure their disease progression creating interventions when necessary to optimize the health and response time to disease. New devices and tools technology into a smartphone for example, have the potential to become an extension of a patient’s health care provider and already change the way in which patients interact with the medical system. These various devices can allow public health officials to better monitor and screen for diseases in large populations and ultimately help improve preventive strategies and access to care for millions of Americans. This is all a critical part of improving outcomes for patients going forward.

As pharmacists we are aware that the management of COPD is multi-pronged approach. Treatment focuses on monitoring changes and relieving symptoms, improving function/exercise tolerance and ongoing vigilance. There exists however, variables needed to assess and monitor the disease, reduce risk factors, such as smoking and air pollution, stabilize care to prevent disease progression and manage exacerbations and comorbid conditions. This could not be accomplished without the infusion of the healthcare technologies. (17).

Asthma is one of the most prevalent non-communicable chronic respiratory conditions occurring throughout the lifespan.

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