The Bridge: A mobile application for burn patients

• Published in: Burns Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 699 - 704
• Main Authors: Abrams, Thereasa E., Lloyd, Alison A., Elzey, Laura E., Hickerson, William L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2019
• Subjects: Affect; Aftercare - methods; Anxiety; Burns - rehabilitation; Distance support; Focus Groups; Goals; Humans; Medically underserved areas; Medication Adherence; Mobile Applications; Mobile technology; Nurses; Pain; Patient Education as Topic; Patient Readmission; Pilot Projects; Pruritus; Qualitative Research; Return to Work; Short-term recovery; Social Participation; Social Support; Stakeholder Participation; Surgeons; Surgery, Plastic; Survivors; Medically underserved areas; Mobile technology; Short-term recovery; Distance support
• DOI: 10.1016/j.burns.2018.09.028
• EISSN: 1879-1409
• ISSN: 0305-4179

•Delivery of burn-specific distance support through a mobile pplication (app) for patients being discharged from a burn center.•App content developed from qualitative data obtained from three stakeholder focus groups.•Primary goal of the Bridge Mobile App is to decrease unplanned hospital readmissions.•App tracks mood, pain, anxiety, itch, medication compliance, social participation, goal setting and return to work.
Global use of the internet has become commonplace, and smart phones have paved the way for technological mobility. Incorporation of smart phone technology has the potential to positively affect health outcomes through use of health-directed applications (apps), particularly for those patients living in medically underserved areas. The Bridge Mobile App for Burn Patients (fka: HealthySteps), is a pilot project that was developed to address the unique recovery needs of patients with major burn injuries who are being discharged from a regional burn center. App content was developed from three focus groups to explore and elucidate on stakeholders’ understandings of the bio-psycho-social education and messages that they believed would improve short-term outcomes for newly discharged burn patients. The app will provide burn patients with accessible support 24h a day, seven days a week. Original recovery-stage appropriate bio-psycho-social content, instructional videos and links to burn-supportive web sites are delivered directly to patients’ smart phones for the first 90days following discharge. The primary goal for the Bridge App is to decrease unplanned hospital re-admissions, while supporting increased quality of life and resilience in short-term recovery. In addition, the Bridge Mobile App is designed to collect patient data reflecting pain, anxiety, mood, itching, medication compliance, social participation, self-efficacy and return to work on a password protected, HIPPA compliant, encrypted mainframe.