A Mobile App (Concerto) to Empower Hospitalized Patients in a Swiss University Hospital: Development, Design, and Implementation Report.

BACKGROUND: Patient empowerment can be associated with better health outcomes, especially in the management of chronic diseases. Digital health has the potential to promote patient empowerment. OBJECTIVE: Concerto is a mobile app designed to promote patient empowerment in an in-patient setting. This implementation report focuses on the lessons learned during its implementation. METHODS: The app was conceptualized and prototyped during a hackathon. Concerto uses hospital information system (HIS) data to offer the following key functionalities: a care schedule, targeted medical information, practical information, information about the on-duty care team, and a medical round preparation module. Funding was obtained following a feasibility study, and the app was developed and implemented in four pilot divisions of a Swiss University Hospital using institution-owned tablets. IMPLEMENTATION (RESULTS): The project lasted for 2 years with effective implementation in the four pilot divisions and was maintained within budget. The induced workload on caregivers impaired project sustainability and warranted a change in our implementation strategy. The presence of a killer function would have facilitated the deployment. Furthermore, our experience is in line with the well-accepted need for both high-quality user training and a suitable selection of superusers. Finally, by presenting HIS data directly to the patient, Concerto highlighted the data that are not fit for purpose and triggered data curation and standardization initiatives. CONCLUSIONS: This implementation report presents a real-world example of designing, developing, and implementing a patient-empowering mobile app in a university hospital in-patient setting with a particular focus on the lessons learned. One limitation of the study is the lack of definition of a "key success" indicator.

[Moving towards patient-centered care using a mobile application : the Concerto project].

The benefits of patient empowerment are more and more recognized, and digital technologies have an important potential to favor it. The mobile application Concerto, prototyped during a hackathon, was co-created by caregivers, developers and patients by using a user-centered design and an agile development methodology. It uses the information available in the hospital information system to provide patients with an up-to-date schedule of care, targeted medical and practical information, a presentation of the care team and a tool promoting interactions with caregivers. The project is currently in experimental phase in 4 care units, and regularly improved through continuous evaluation and integration of new modules.

Les bénéfices de l'engagement des patients dans leurs soins sont de plus en plus reconnus et les technologies numériques disposent d'un potentiel important pour le favoriser. L'application mobile Concerto, prototypée lors d'un hackathon, a été cocréée par des soignants, des développeurs et des patients en utilisant une méthodologie de développement agile, basée sur les besoins utilisateurs. Elle utilise les informations présentes dans le système d'information hospitalier pour proposer au patient un agenda de soins mis à jour en temps réel, une information médicale et pratique adaptée, une présentation de l'équipe soignante et un outil de préparation aux interactions patient-soignant. Actuellement en phase pilote dans quatre unités, le projet poursuit son amélioration sur la base d'une évaluation continue et d'intégration de nouveaux modules.