The development of the COVID.Termini.app, which was created as part of the patient registration system project co-financed by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR), is the result of the work of the 7-person team of Termini programmers. The project was initiated by the Center for Medical Simulation and Innovation of the Medical University of Warsaw (CSMI WUM) in consultation with the Department of Medical Informatics and Telemedicine of the MUW. It is the first such solution in Poland and one of the first in Europe.
- The main goal we have set ourselves is to relieve the burden on the Polish health care system by automating activities at certain levels of patient care. The application will help to select people who may already be infected, even if they do not yet feel the symptoms of the infection. It will also indicate whether a given patient needs a direct medical consultation or whether he can stay at home, where his condition will be continuously monitored - says dr. Marcin Kaczor, the President of CSMI WUM. - The use of the application does not obviously replace the medical examination, but thanks to the analysis of the three basic parameters, it allows to accelerate diagnostic and therapeutic decisions.
The COVID.Termini.app is already available online and ready to be used, however, it will only be activated when administrators (such as the medical facilities, and also the local governments), that buy a subscription to use it, are part of the system.
- Until this happens, each patient who completes the registration form and enters the data will receive an e-mail notifying whether his or her city, municipality or county is currently being served by some management entity," says Michał Szulecki, the President of the Termini company.
How does it work?
Using the COVID.Termini.app is very simple. The only expense the patient incurs is related to the purchase of a pulse oximeter - a non-invasive (finger-jacked) electronic device used to measure oxygen saturation, i.e. blood oxygen saturation.
After registering in the online application, the user provides three pieces of information: the percentage result of the pulse oximeter test, a subjective perception of the dyspnea sensation (on a scale from 1 to 10) and body temperature. In the next version of the application it will also be required to add the information about the number of breaths per minute and the heart rate, the value of which can also be read from the pulse oximeter. The data will be automatically sent to the doctor or paramedic registered in the system indicated by the local government or a public institution - administrator.
- If the result of the measurements is disturbing, for example a pulse oximeter indicates an oxygen saturation level of lower than 90%, the patient is marked with a "red flag". The doctor knows that such a person needs help and calls him/her to carry out an additional consultation - explains Michał Szulecki. - During the conversation the doctor can assess that e.g. the patient is not well, but he/she can reach the hospital on his/her own, or that his/her condition requires calling an ambulance - says Szulecki.
He adds that ultimately the application will implement a second channel of data transfer by the patient - automatic telephone survey. Instead of entering data into the application, the patient will be able to select it by dial tone while connecting the answering machine. If the results are disturbing, the patient will hear a message at the end: "A doctor will contact you in a moment".
In order to effectively monitor the condition of the patients, data entry is required at least twice a day. If the patient does not do that, the system automatically notifies via SMS about the next measurement date.
Not only for the hospitals and sanitary and epidemiological station
The creators of the COVID.Termini.app emphasize that the operation of the application will make sense provided it is used on a large scale. Therefore, they assume that its administrators do not have to be medical facilities which are already overloaded with work anyway.
- The service can be ordered by e.g. the self-government of a voivodship, district, municipality or town. For our part, we also provide contracted paramedics to operate applications, manage data and actions for the patients - says Michał Szulecki. As the application is connected to the CSO TERYT register, the patient, after choosing his or her location, automatically goes to the nearest administrator (a rescuer or a doctor).
- Each city can take care of its residents and at the same time relieve the burden on sanitary and epidemiological station and hospital facilities. It is an ideal solution to the current problem as people who suspect having Covid-19 disease are facing the lack of possibility to quickly contact a trained healthcare worker in order to diagnose and professionally assess their condition - adds dr. Marcin Kaczor.
Photo: Michał Szulecki, the President of the Termini company, presents the COVID.Termini.app