Evaluating Public COPD Apps and Identifying Ideal Designs and Features to Support Patients’ Self-Management

Shirley Quach, MHSc, RRT, FCSRT
The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON; McMaster University, Hamilton, ON

Patients living with COPD continue to express the need for support to help them understand and manage their disease. Mobile applications (apps) have the potential to provide resources and support to patients remotely and on demand. There are free, public COPD apps in the marketplace, but these apps are rarely reviewed for their credibility and quality. It is necessary for public apps to be assessed for their contents and features, and this presentation will highlight our findings in the app marketplace. By bringing awareness, this will inform health care providers of public COPD apps’ limitations and harms before considering them in care plans. The next step is to engage with health care professionals and patients to identify ideal designs and features to adequately support patients’ needs in using apps for self-care.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this presentation, attendees will be able to:

• Summarize the strengths and limitations of utilizing COPD apps for self-management;
• Describe the characteristics and features of public COPD apps; and
• Identify the ideal features and designs of COPD apps to support patients’ needs.

CanMEDS Roles Addressed: Health Advocate, Professional, Scholar