ESPE Abstracts

Background: Smartphones are becoming increasingly popular and powerful across the globe, which, in turn, has provided unforeseen opportunities in the digital health space. The increased capabilities of smartphones have allowed the incorporation of Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities that merge input from their cameras with additional, augmented annotations and representations. While there has been research on the use of AR in managing paediatric diabetes,1 to the best of our knowledge this is not the case for patient education in the treatment of paediatric growth disorders. The easypod^® AR application2 provides training on the safe and effective use of a connected injection device (easypod^®) for recombinant human growth hormone (r-hGH) therapy. It is designed to complement and support the work of nurses involved in the training of patients and their caregivers.

Aim: This study investigates the nursing experience associated with the easypod^® AR mobile phone application to support and train patients and their caregivers to administer their r-hGH injections.

Methods: In 2020, the easypod^® AR mobile application2 was launched to support nurse-driven telehealth patient education. Nurses who had been involved in the training of patients using the easypod^® AR app in countries where it has already been launched (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, Singapore, the UK, Australia and South Korea) were invited to participate in an online survey based on the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) using a 5-point scale (1-Worst to 5-Best).3

Results: In total, 23 nurses completed the online questionnaire. They positively rated the quality of the app across multiple dimensions, including engagement, functionality and aesthetics. All reported mean scores were ≥3.0; the highest mean scores reported for each dimension were 4.0 for engagement (adaptation to the target group; standard deviation [SD], 0.74), 4.1 (SD, 0.79) for functionality (navigation) and 4.1 (SD, 0.67) for aesthetics (graphics).

Conclusion: The easypod^® AR mobile application was well received by nurses involved in the training of patients with growth disorders and their caregivers for the administration of r-hGH, and demonstrates potential as an educational tool. Future studies are warranted to investigate the impact of such AR technologies on clinical practice and patient outcomes.

References:

1. Calle-Bustos A-M, et al. PLoS One 2017:12(9):e0184645;

2. Merck Healthcare KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, easypod^® AR: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.merck.easypodarapp.googleplay&hl=en&gl=US;

3. Stoyanov SR, et al. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2015:3(1):e27.