Sara Riggare*, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Consumer empowerment, patient-physician relationship, and sociotechnical issues Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Mermaid Room: Room 4 - Queenshithe Date: 2013-09-23 10:30 AM – 11:15 AM Last modified: 2013-09-25

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According to Christensen et al. (2009), 30% of the American adult population suffers from at least one chronic condition, accounting for 75% of direct medical care costs in the US. There is plenty of evidence that chronic patients taking a more active role in the management of their condition fare better than those who don’t and current research identifies self-tracking tools and social media as potentially being important for patient empowerment (Paton, Hansen, Fernandez-Luque, & Lau, 2012). This enables patients to discover how they respond to e.g. medication changes in a structured way.
This abstract aims to show the potential of chronic patients using simple and accessible tools, like smartphone apps, for monitoring and evaluating symptoms of their chronic diseases, taking a very complex neurological disease like Parkinson’s disease as an example.
The main author has combined using a smartphone finger-tapping test with recording her medication intakes to evaluate the rigidity and bradykinesia of her Parkinson’s and how it depends on medication timings.
A similar test is used in clinical situations (Westin, 2010), but in the case described in this abstract, the method was used by a patient wanting to know more about her disease for her own sake.
To evaluate the effects of a complex medication regimen (six different prescribed drugs to be taken six times a day, in six different combinations with six different time intervals), a smartphone finger-tapping test was used. The test was taken 9-12 times a day with the middle finger of the right and left hand respectively, making sure that the base of the hand was supported. The subject tapped at maximum speed for 30 seconds and the number of taps were recorded and the results from the tapping tests plotted together with the times for medication intake.
This has lead to the current project of developing an online system enabling patients with chronic diseases to use different apps, devices and other measures to monitor and learn about their own conditions. Currently, we are planning for a pilot study to start in May 2013 where 20 patients with Parkinson’s disease will use smartphone apps to monitor their symptoms. The evaluation of the pilot study will comprise usability aspects as well as subjective and objective effects from using the system.
This simple single-case study demonstrated that patterns can be found in the effects of the medication “by the patient for the patient” by combining simple smartphone apps. The system currently being developed will be designed to also serve as a tool for communication between patients and healthcare professionals.

Christensen, C. M., Grossman, J. H., & Hwang, J. (2009). The Innovator’s Prescription. A Disruptive Solution for Health Care.
Paton, C., Hansen, M., Fernandez-Luque, L., & Lau, a Y. S. (2012). Self-Tracking, Social Media and Personal Health Records for Patient Empowered Self-Care. Contribution of the IMIA Social Media Working Group. Yearbook of medical informatics, 7(1), 16–24.
Westin, J. (2010). Decision Support for Treatment of Patients with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease. Uppsala University.