A Proof of Concept of a Mobile Health Application to Support Professionals in a Portuguese Nursing Home

Abstract

Over the past few years, the rapidly aging population has been posing several challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. Consequently, in Portugal, nursing homes have been getting a higher demand, and health professionals working in these facilities are overloaded with work. Moreover, the lack of health information and communication technology (HICT) and the use of unsophisticated methods, such as paper, in nursing homes to clinically manage residents lead to more errors and are time-consuming. Thus, this article proposes a proof of concept of a mobile health (mHealth) application developed for the health professionals working in a Portuguese nursing home to support them at the point-of-care, namely to manage and have access to information and to help them schedule, perform, and digitally record their tasks. Additionally, clinical and performance business intelligence (BI) indicators to assist the decision-making process are also defined. Thereby, this solution aims to introduce technological improvements into the facility to improve healthcare delivery and, by taking advantage of the benefits provided by these improvements, lessen some of the workload experienced by health professionals, reduce time-waste and errors, and, ultimately, enhance elders’ quality of life and improve the quality of the services provided.