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SCAUT — an app for patients with implanted cardiac devices

Denmark Distance monitoring
SCAUT is short for Self-, Collaborative- and Auto-detection of signs and symptoms of deterioration. SCAUT focus on patients with implanted cardiac devices (ICTs) and apply a participatory design process with active involvement of health professionals, patients and relatives. This means that they carry out iterative prototyping and testing in real life situations in patients’ homes and at hospitals. The aim is to create next generation mHealth that improves collaboration between patients and clinicians in remote monitoring. The solution aims to make it very easy for patients and clinicians to collaborate around early detection of signs and symptoms.
With the Scaut app, as a patient, you will be able to respond quickly and easily to symptoms and receive more personalized responses to your readings with the home monitoring box. This will result in better treatment and improved quality of life for the patients.
The users are patients with implanted cardiac devices. Currently 100 patients are using the solution.
SCAUT.png
When detecting symptoms, the patient can communicate with the hospital via the app instead of a physical visit.

Quotes/testimonials

“What we would like to try is to enable patients to take actions themselves based on data that the cardiac device gathers. This way we enable patients to act on symptoms much faster than what is possible today. And this way the patients can avoid ending up in a worsening condition.”

—Tariq Osman Andersen & Jonas Moll, Researchers.

Elaboration

Needs and challenges

People with cardiac devices implanted are living with a constant fear of complications and the fear of heart failure happening when no one is around.

The patients normally had to go to the hospital when detecting symptoms, and many hospital visits were done because of insecurity. 

Solution and function

Scaut make collaboration around early detection of signs and symptoms easy for patients and clinicians. The solution will enable patients to increased self-treatment and -monitoring. When detecting symptoms, they communicate with the hospital via the app instead of a physical visit. This way the doctors can quickly consider if the situation is life-threatening. This improves diagnosis and treatment.

The ICD (Implantable cardioverter defibrillator) provide the patients with safety as it will constantly monitor the patient’s heart rhythm. Without it patients are often afraid of being alone.

Scaut develops and maintain a living lab that enables to explore a mobile digital health solution as well as a clinical platform that uses advanced analytics to predict deterioration.

Implementation

The solution is currently in use at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

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Economy

The solution will decrease the number of hospitalizations among patients with cardiac devices as symptoms will be detected much earlier than they usually would and it results in a better overall health status for the patients.

The quality of life will increase among patients. Normally the patients will have to go to the hospital when detecting symptoms. The patient can now communicate with the hospital via the app and a visit to the hospital can often be avoided. This means that the patients overall feel much safer.

 

Process

The workflow for the clinicians will be lowered as patients will need to go to the hospital less than they usually would. They will now more often only see the patients in need of a hospital visit and not every time the patient feels insecure.

Clinicians and patients can communicate via the app as the patient sends its data. The clinicians will examine the patient’s data and let the patient know which action is required and if a visit to the hospital is necessary.

More about effects

The main purpose of Scaut is to provide the cardiac patients with security and the best possible treatment. This will improve the patient’s quality of life as they feel freer to do things on their own hand and live a life as normal as possible.

The constant monitoring and potential for treatment regulation will decrease the need for hospitalizations.

Learnings

  • The patients must know how to use a mobile phone application in order to receive the service.  
  • The patient’s data will automatically be stored in their patient journals and can be accessed by the relevant health professionals.  

This solution can be used for patients with cardiac devices capable of acting on their own symptoms and using a smartphone.  

The Heart Centre 
University Hospital of Copenhagen (Rigshospitalet) 
Blegdamsvej 9 
2100 Copenhagen Ø 

Scaut

Rehfeld Medical 
Titangade 11, 3rd floor 
DK-2200 Copenhagen