Two complementary personal medication management applications developed on a common platform: case report

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Adverse drug events are a significant concern in ambulatory care.
• Improving medication self-management is key to reducing these events.
• While medication apps exist for tethered personal health records (PHRs), interoperable PHR applications are less explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop two complementary personal health applications on a common PHR platform.
• To create 'MyMediHealth' for children with complex health needs.
• To create 'Colorado Care Tablet' for older adults during care transitions.

Main Methods:

• User-centered design approach was employed.
• A common PHR platform based on a service-oriented architecture was utilized.
• Distinct user interfaces were developed: Web/mobile for MyMediHealth and a tablet-customized Web interface for Colorado Care Tablet.

Main Results:

• Complementary medication management applications were created for distinct user groups using shared components.
• Challenges included encoding medication identities, incorporating knowledge bases, and simplifying interfaces.
• Solutions were found for supporting mobile devices and providing supplementary dosing information.

Conclusions:

• Prototypes demonstrate the value of abstracting PHR data and services for tailored patient applications.
• Recommendations are provided for structuring public knowledge resources.
• The use of mobile messaging systems for PHR applications is suggested.