Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 29, 2026
A Novel Digital Platform for a Monitored Home-based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
Published on: April 19, 2019
Home-Monitoring Application for Children With Medical Complexity: A Feasibility Trial
Flory Nkoy1, Bryan Stone2, Michelle Hofmann2
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah flory.nkoy@hsc.utah.edu.
Insights
The MyChildCMC mobile app demonstrated feasibility for monitoring children with medical complexity at home. It showed potential for early detection of health declines, leading to reduced hospital days and improved parent satisfaction.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare technology
- Digital health interventions
- Home-based patient monitoring
Background:
- Children with medical complexity (CMC) often require frequent hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits.
- Mobile applications offer a potential solution for supporting home monitoring and reducing healthcare utilization for CMC.
- Previous implementations of such apps for CMC have been limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility of the MyChildCMC app for home monitoring of CMC.
- To evaluate the app's ability to detect early signs of health deterioration.
- To determine the preliminary impact of the app on healthcare utilization and parent satisfaction.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving parents of CMC (aged 1-21 years) post-hospital discharge.
- Participants were assigned to either the MyChildCMC app group or usual care for 3 months.
- Data collected included vital signs, symptoms, enrollment, retention, engagement, quality of life, parent satisfaction, and healthcare admissions.
Main Results:
- The MyChildCMC app achieved an 80.6% enrollment rate, with 74% retention at 3 months.
- Run-chart shifts in vital signs frequently preceded hospital admissions, indicating early detection potential.
- The MyChildCMC group showed significantly improved parent satisfaction and a reduction in hospital days compared to the control group.
Conclusions:
- The MyChildCMC app is a feasible tool for home monitoring of CMC.
- The app shows potential for early detection of health deteriorations, possibly preventing ED visits and hospitalizations.
- Further research with larger studies is recommended to confirm the app's impact and long-term sustainability.
Objectives:
Mobile apps are suggested for supporting home monitoring and reducing emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations for children with medical complexity (CMC). None have been implemented. We sought to assess the MyChildCMC app (1) feasibility for CMC home monitoring, (2) ability to detect early deteriorations before ED and hospital admissions, and (3) preliminary impact.
Methods:
Parents of CMC (aged 1-21 years) admitted to a children's hospital were randomly assigned to MyChildCMC or usual care. MyChildCMC subjects recorded their child's vital signs and symptoms daily for 3 months postdischarge and received real-time feedback. Feasibility measures included parent's enrollment, retention, and engagement. The preliminary impact was determined by using quality of life, parent satisfaction with care, and subsequent ED and hospital admissions and hospital days.
Results:
A total of 62 parents and CMC were invited to participate: 50 enrolled (80.6% enrollment rate) and were randomly assigned to MyChildCMC (n = 24) or usual care (n = 26). Retention at 1 and 3 months was 80% and 74%, and engagement was 68.3% and 62.6%. Run-chart shifts in vital signs were common findings preceding admissions. The satisfaction score was 26.9 in the MyChildCMC group and 24.1 in the control group (P = .035). No quality of life or subsequent admission differences occurred between groups. The 3-month hospital days (pre-post enrollment) decreased from 9.25 to 4.54 days (rate ratio = 0.49; 95% confidence interval = 0.39-0.62; P < .001) in the MyChildCMC group and increased from 1.08 to 2.46 days (rate ratio = 2.29; 95% confidence interval = 1.47-3.56; P < .001) in the control group.
Conclusions:
MyChildCMC was feasible and appears effective, with the potential to detect early deteriorations in health for timely interventions that might avoid ED and hospitalizations. A larger and definitive study of MyChildCMC's impact and sustainability is needed.
