Mobile Health Technology for Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: Medication Management

Summary

Patients with complex, long-lasting conditions such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) often take multiple medications and frequently have serious medication problems, arising from poor communication between doctors and patients. Prescription errors or misunderstandings can cause harm and lead to emergency room visits or even hospitalizations. To address these issues, medication reconciliation is now used by hospitals as a way to confirm the medication list of patients on admission to and discharge from hospital. However, a similar process does not exist outside the hospital setting. In recent years patients have become more proactive in undertaking activities with a direct bearing on their health. Such activities may include maintaining an accurate list of their medications. The rapid growth of the digital health arena has led to the development of a large number of commercially available mobile medication management apps for patients. These digital tools are 'stand-alone' products that are not integrated with the patients' pharmacy or health record system. They rely on patients to enter the list of their medications and update it as necessary. Moreover, few have a function to communicate medication changes or problems with their healthcare providers. Recently, an integrated smartphone, eKidneyCare, app system was developed with a medication management feature to help patients maintain an accurate mobile medication list. Patients' current medication information in the pharmacy database is uploaded onto their by a pharmacist and changes are tracked regularly through a bi-directional communication system. Updates to the medication list occur seamlessly by the pharmacist, and patients and their physicians are notified about any medication errors or serious adverse events. This study will determine whether our eKidneyCare app with its medication management feature will decrease medication errors and improve patient safety compared to the more traditional way of managing medications.

Conditions

• Renal Insufficiency, Chronic
• Hypertension
• Medication Reconciliation
• Mobile Applications

Interventions

OTHER

Usual Care

Usual standard CKD care involves an outpatient clinic visit every 3 to 4 months (at minimum every 6 months) for a clinical assessment by their renal clinical care team.

DEVICE

Integrated mobile medication app

Use of mobile app to maintain, manage medication list on a smartphone device that allows for bidirectional transfer of medication information

DEVICE

Commercially available mobile medication app

Use of mobile app to manually record and maintain medication records with no integration to databases.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University Health Network, Toronto

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Stephanie W Ong, BScPHM, MSc · UHN

• Alexander G Logan, MD, FRCP(C) · Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-05-31

Primary Completion

2017-09-26

Completion

2017-09-26

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations