University of Utah Health https://healthcare.utah.edu has launched an initiative seeking to better integrate digital health applications into daily medical care including prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, heart disease, and other life threatening conditions.
The Digital Health Initiative (DHI) aims to develop, evaluate, and distribute tools designed to improve mental health, home monitoring, self-care, and patient centered clinical decision support. DHI is supported by a grant from the Office of Senior VP for Health Sciences at University of Utah Health.
The founding of DHI coincides with the uptick in health app usage. Estimates are that more than 350,000 apps are available worldwide with about 250 new health apps appearing daily. The more popular apps are available to help monitor exercise, nutrition, weight loss, sleep, and blood pressure.
“However, many of these apps fail to follow scientific protocols, don’t work as well as intended, or were developed without consulting physicians,”, according to Victoria Tiase, PhD, RN, DHI Director of Strategic Development.
The DHI plans to drive digital health research forward by developing:
- Mobile apps and games for health
- Virtual reality and sensors
- Clinical decision support tools
- Integrating with EHRs
Moving forward, DHI directors will recruit more faculty in complementary fields, conduct real world testing of their innovations, and establish a user centered design lab where digital app developers can conduct hands-on demonstrations and get feedback from patients who might eventually use the technology.
“Involving end users in the entire design process is key”, reports Roger Altizer, PhD, Co-Director, DHI, Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah Health. “We not only need to know if the app will work but we also need to know if patients will use it.”