P008 A Novel Smartphone Application to Reduce Infusion Suite Wait Times

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are often treated with biologic medications that require visits to an infusion suite. Due to the high cost of biologics, they are not mixed and released from the pharmacy until patient arrival. This typically leads to long wait times after patient check in. An investigator-developed novel smartphone application (app) titled Almost There was created to reduce wait times through the use of geofences to notify the infusion suite when patients are nearing their destination (the hospital). Our aim was to perform a pilot study to assess the feasibility of Almost There for patients with IBD coming for infusions at a rural academic medical center.

Adult patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) currently receiving intravenous biologic therapy were recruited for this pilot study. Patients received instructions on how to download the app onto their smartphone. Patients activated the application prior to leaving their homes and answered standard screening questions to assess for active infections. Using geofences, the app automatically notified the infusion suite when the patient was within 10 miles of the hospital. The infusion suite alerted the pharmacy who immediately proceeded with medication preparation. Patients completed surveys upon arrival to the infusion suite collecting basic demographics and disease information, perceived wait times for that visit and previous visits prior to using the app. The infusion suite staff recorded actual wait times from check in to medication administration.

The app was trialed successfully for 12 total visits among 9 patients (5 CD, 4 UC). 78% of app users were 25-44 years old and 22% were 45 years and older. 56% of patients were receiving infliximab and 44% were receiving vedolizumab. 11 patients were recruited and 9 patients out of 11 were able to successfully use the app. Reasons for app failure included one user who forgot their phone at home, one with loss of cell service, and one app malfunction. The median actual wait time from when patients arrived at the infusion suite to the start of the infusion was 38-40 minutes. In 67% of visits, there was decreased perceived wait time for patients using the app compared to their prior visits. When using the app, perceived wait times were shorter than actual wait times in 75% percent of patients.

In this pilot feasibility study, the Almost There app led to decreased perceived wait times for IBD patients coming for biologic infusions. The application was not effective for 18% of patients for a variety of reasons. If this or a similar app was improved to allow for more consistent usability it should be studied compared to a control group to evaluate if it leads to decreased wait times for any medical infusion.