Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation

BackgroundItaly was the first country to largely experience the COVID-19 epidemic among other Western countries during the so-called first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proper management of an increasing number of home-quarantined individuals created a significant challenge...

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Main Authors: Gios, Lorenzo, Crema Falceri, Giulia, Micocci, Stefano, Patil, Luigi, Testa, Sara, Sforzin, Simona, Turra, Ettore, Conforti, Diego, Malfatti, Giulia, Moz, Monica, Nicolini, Andrea, Guarda, Paolo, Bacchiega, Alessandro, Mion, Carlo, Marchesoni, Michele, Maimone, Rosa, Molini, Pietro Benedetto, Zanella, Alberto, Osmani, Venet, Mayora-Ibarra, Oscar, Forti, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2021-05-01
Series:JMIR Formative Research
Online Access:https://formative.jmir.org/2021/5/e25713
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spelling doaj-e1b7e7c8a1484628a12f5dfe77a9c5d92021-05-31T12:47:00ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Formative Research2561-326X2021-05-0155e2571310.2196/25713Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and ImplementationGios, LorenzoCrema Falceri, GiuliaMicocci, StefanoPatil, LuigiTesta, SaraSforzin, SimonaTurra, EttoreConforti, DiegoMalfatti, GiuliaMoz, MonicaNicolini, AndreaGuarda, PaoloBacchiega, AlessandroMion, CarloMarchesoni, MicheleMaimone, RosaMolini, Pietro BenedettoZanella, AlbertoOsmani, VenetMayora-Ibarra, OscarForti, Stefano BackgroundItaly was the first country to largely experience the COVID-19 epidemic among other Western countries during the so-called first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proper management of an increasing number of home-quarantined individuals created a significant challenge for health care authorities and professionals. This was especially true when considering the importance of remote surveillance to detect signs of disease progression and consequently regulate access to hospitals and intensive care units on a priority basis. ObjectiveIn this paper, we report on an initiative promoted to cope with the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Spring/Summer of 2020, in the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy. A purposefully built app named TreCovid19 was designed to provide dedicated health care staff with a ready-to-use tool for remotely monitoring patients with progressive symptoms of COVID-19, who were home-quarantined during the first wave of the epidemic, and to focus on those patients who, based on their self-reported clinical data, required a quick response from health care professionals. MethodsTreCovid19 was rapidly developed to facilitate the monitoring of a selected number of home-quarantined patients with COVID-19 during the very first epidemic wave. The app was built on top of an existing eHealth platform, already in use by the local health authority to provide home care, with the following functionalities: (1) to securely collect and link demographic and clinical information related to the patients and (2) to provide a two-way communication between a multidisciplinary health care team and home-quarantined patients. The system supported patients to self-assess their condition and update the multidisciplinary team on their health status. The system was used between March and June 2020 in the province of Trento. ResultsA dedicated multidisciplinary group of health care professionals adopted the platform over a period of approximately 3 months (from March-end to June 2020) to monitor a total of 170 patients with confirmed COVID-19 during home quarantine. All patients used the system until the end of the initiative. The TreCovid19 system has provided useful insights of possible viability and impact of a technological–organizational asset to manage a potentially critical workload for the health care staff involved in the periodic monitoring of a relevant number of quarantined patients, notwithstanding its limitations given the rapid implementation of the whole initiative. ConclusionsThe technological and organizational model adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was developed and finalized in a relatively short period during the initial few weeks of the epidemic. The system successfully supported the health care staff involved in the periodic monitoring of an increasing number of home-quarantined patients and provided valuable data in terms of disease surveillance.https://formative.jmir.org/2021/5/e25713
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Gios, Lorenzo
Crema Falceri, Giulia
Micocci, Stefano
Patil, Luigi
Testa, Sara
Sforzin, Simona
Turra, Ettore
Conforti, Diego
Malfatti, Giulia
Moz, Monica
Nicolini, Andrea
Guarda, Paolo
Bacchiega, Alessandro
Mion, Carlo
Marchesoni, Michele
Maimone, Rosa
Molini, Pietro Benedetto
Zanella, Alberto
Osmani, Venet
Mayora-Ibarra, Oscar
Forti, Stefano
spellingShingle Gios, Lorenzo
Crema Falceri, Giulia
Micocci, Stefano
Patil, Luigi
Testa, Sara
Sforzin, Simona
Turra, Ettore
Conforti, Diego
Malfatti, Giulia
Moz, Monica
Nicolini, Andrea
Guarda, Paolo
Bacchiega, Alessandro
Mion, Carlo
Marchesoni, Michele
Maimone, Rosa
Molini, Pietro Benedetto
Zanella, Alberto
Osmani, Venet
Mayora-Ibarra, Oscar
Forti, Stefano
Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation
JMIR Formative Research
author_facet Gios, Lorenzo
Crema Falceri, Giulia
Micocci, Stefano
Patil, Luigi
Testa, Sara
Sforzin, Simona
Turra, Ettore
Conforti, Diego
Malfatti, Giulia
Moz, Monica
Nicolini, Andrea
Guarda, Paolo
Bacchiega, Alessandro
Mion, Carlo
Marchesoni, Michele
Maimone, Rosa
Molini, Pietro Benedetto
Zanella, Alberto
Osmani, Venet
Mayora-Ibarra, Oscar
Forti, Stefano
author_sort Gios, Lorenzo
title Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation
title_short Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation
title_full Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation
title_fullStr Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation
title_full_unstemmed Use of eHealth Platforms and Apps to Support Monitoring and Management of Home-Quarantined Patients With COVID-19 in the Province of Trento, Italy: App Development and Implementation
title_sort use of ehealth platforms and apps to support monitoring and management of home-quarantined patients with covid-19 in the province of trento, italy: app development and implementation
publisher JMIR Publications
series JMIR Formative Research
issn 2561-326X
publishDate 2021-05-01
description BackgroundItaly was the first country to largely experience the COVID-19 epidemic among other Western countries during the so-called first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proper management of an increasing number of home-quarantined individuals created a significant challenge for health care authorities and professionals. This was especially true when considering the importance of remote surveillance to detect signs of disease progression and consequently regulate access to hospitals and intensive care units on a priority basis. ObjectiveIn this paper, we report on an initiative promoted to cope with the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Spring/Summer of 2020, in the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy. A purposefully built app named TreCovid19 was designed to provide dedicated health care staff with a ready-to-use tool for remotely monitoring patients with progressive symptoms of COVID-19, who were home-quarantined during the first wave of the epidemic, and to focus on those patients who, based on their self-reported clinical data, required a quick response from health care professionals. MethodsTreCovid19 was rapidly developed to facilitate the monitoring of a selected number of home-quarantined patients with COVID-19 during the very first epidemic wave. The app was built on top of an existing eHealth platform, already in use by the local health authority to provide home care, with the following functionalities: (1) to securely collect and link demographic and clinical information related to the patients and (2) to provide a two-way communication between a multidisciplinary health care team and home-quarantined patients. The system supported patients to self-assess their condition and update the multidisciplinary team on their health status. The system was used between March and June 2020 in the province of Trento. ResultsA dedicated multidisciplinary group of health care professionals adopted the platform over a period of approximately 3 months (from March-end to June 2020) to monitor a total of 170 patients with confirmed COVID-19 during home quarantine. All patients used the system until the end of the initiative. The TreCovid19 system has provided useful insights of possible viability and impact of a technological–organizational asset to manage a potentially critical workload for the health care staff involved in the periodic monitoring of a relevant number of quarantined patients, notwithstanding its limitations given the rapid implementation of the whole initiative. ConclusionsThe technological and organizational model adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was developed and finalized in a relatively short period during the initial few weeks of the epidemic. The system successfully supported the health care staff involved in the periodic monitoring of an increasing number of home-quarantined patients and provided valuable data in terms of disease surveillance.
url https://formative.jmir.org/2021/5/e25713
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