Patients are becoming increasingly involved in their care, and Diaverum is responding to their expectations with its pioneering d.CARE mobile app.
Patient involvement is increasing through the digitalisation of healthcare, a process that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and lockdown regulations created the perfect ecosystem for a quicker adoption of telemedicine, and more health-related content became available online.
This trend has gone hand in hand with a greater understanding of the importance of health literacy and its benefits for both healthcare organisations and patients; studies have shown that patients who understand and are empowered to navigate information around their treatments communicate more effectively with their healthcare providers and enjoy better medical outcomes.
According to Suzanne Pearce, Corporate Nursing Director at Diaverum: “Patient participation can be beneficial, as it leads to more confident, compliant, in-control patients, with a higher satisfaction in their condition, care and overall well-being. They can feel supported and empowered by participating more in their care. This in turn can lead to a reduction of complications and hospital admissions”.
Anticipating these industry changes and patient expectations and equipped with the fundamental belief that our duty is to empower our patients to live fulfilling lives, Diaverum has created the d.CARE patient mobile application, a pioneering tool that has the potential to deliver a step-change in patient involvement and health literacy, by creating a digital communication path between our healthcare professionals and patients. The app has already been rolled out across most of Diaverum markets, and is connected to our international renal management information system. It can be easily downloaded onto our patient smartphones via the Apple Store and Google Play app stores.
What does d.CARE do?
According to Dr. Carlos Lucas, Medical Protocols and Standardisation Director, “on the one hand, d.CARE receives patient input regarding their well-being, fluid intake and clinic experience; on the other, it provides patients with information related to their treatment data, lab results and medications. The application has a set of features, which are continuously evolving, with recent exciting updates being a patient feedback function as well as enhanced medication information, including daily schedule and reminders”.
Coming up soon in 2023, a number of new features will be incorporated to the app, such as:
- Care-taker access to app
- Dialysis Treatment Prescription, including dry-weight
- Fluid Intake Tracker updates
- Patient Education
- Dietary advice
- Chatbot / FAQ function
You can learn more about Diaverum’s d.CARE patient app in the animation below:
d.CARE patient app: a competitive advantage
Increased patient participation, digitalisation of the healthcare industry and the quick adoption of mobile health apps have created a new key competitive differentiator among healthcare providers - their ability to use digital tools to involve patients in shaping their treatment, educating and empowering them to contribute to their own care and well-being.
Dr. Fernando Macário, Chief Medical Officer, comments: “d.CARE has the potential to deliver this step-change in patient involvement and health literacy, and in turn, place our organisation at the forefront of delivering life-enhancing renal care. That's why, in 2022, we have been focused on accelerating its adoption levels among our patients worldwide and, to make it happen, we are working closely with our country management and clinical teams”.