This article was originally published on 15th February 2018 on www.ehealthnews.co.za
MyTherapy, a free to use medication reminder app, is helping over 500,000 global patients adhere to their medication and get the best out of their treatment plans.
The app, which is available for free for iOS and Android devices, was launched in 2013 by smartpatient – a health software development company based in Munich, Germany. smartpatient was co-founded in 2012 by digital health entrepreneurs, Sebastian Gaede, Julian Weddige and Philipp Legge, who recognised the potential smartphones have in helping improve medication adherence.
“It is common knowledge that in South Africa, adherence to medication is a massive problem and a lack of convincing research in this area means that solutions to the problem of non-adherence continue to elude healthcare professionals. To address such challenges, we have designed our medication and health tracker app called MyTherapy,” said MyTherapy Co-founder, Sebastian Gaede.
The MyTherapy app can be used by anybody taking regular medication, for any purpose, for any length of time. It is also designed to help users maintain a healthy lifestyle by setting health goals and encouraging users to log daily physical activities.
To track medication usage, patients must first log their data, including dosage, duration, time and frequency. According to Gaede, this can either be done manually or by searching in the app’s built-in database. The user then sets a time when they need to take their medications (multiple alarms can be set per day) and the app will then remind the user at the correct time via an alarm. The app will continue to remind the user to take their medication until they click on the ‘confirm’ button.
Through the app, users can also log data about their blood pressure, blood sugar levels, weight, body fat percentage, temperature and more.
“Users can also set an activity goal for the day/week (running, cycling, swimming etc.) and assess how they may be feeling at any given moment via the app’s Symptom Checker feature,” said Gaede.
“The ‘I am feeling’ option in the Symptom Checker feature works via a scale, so users can easily monitor their symptoms. The app also has a ‘journal’ feature, which shows users how they are doing and if they are achieving their goals and adhering to their medication regimens,” continued Gaede.
Other than helping the patient keep track of their medication and health, the MyTherapy app also generates useful charts from their data.
“At the end of the month, patients can register to receive information on the data they have logged in the form of a health report with easy-to-read graphs. This can then be used at doctor’s appointments where the doctor can get insight into how the patient is doing and progressing,” said Gaede.
These health reports are available in paper format or online with the MyTherapy Professional dashboard, which is available to healthcare professionals.
Furthermore, the app has an option where users can invite their friends and family to help and encourage the user to continue with treatments plans and goals.
The latest update to the MyTherapy includes a new ‘Lab Values’ tracking feature, which allows users to record important results from lab tests, as well as a Lipid Group tracking feature.
“We are consistently improving upon existing features and we are committed to designing new features that will help users get the absolute best out of their treatment plans and health goals. We are also busy translating our app, expanding upon the 20+ languages already available,” concluded Gaede.
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