Development and assessment of feasibility of a ‘NeuroCare’ app for home care of neurosurgery patients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20243655Keywords:
Caregivers, Mobile app, Neurosurgery patientsAbstract
Background: Patients undergoing neurosurgery may require long-term care at home after discharge from the hospital. Mobile apps may assist their caregivers in care provision. This study aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of a ‘NeuroCare’ App for neurosurgery patients.
Methods: The study was carried out at the neurosurgery department of a tertiary care institution. A mobile app was developed following a preliminary assessment of patients' post-surgery health problems and the caregivers' training needs. This bilingual app consisted of videos on oral care, back care, hand hygiene, Tracheostomy tube (TT) care, TT suction, TT change, RT feeding, etc. It was validated by 22 experts in nursing, public health, physiotherapy, and neurosurgery. The feasibility of the App was assessed on purposely selected 16 patients and their caregivers.
Results: The majority (81.3%) of experts were highly satisfied with the functions of the app such as its contents, voice clarity, video clarity, content sequence, and understanding, and 80% of the caregivers preferred using the app in Hindi language. All the caregivers responded that the videos were not time-consuming. 60% of the caregivers were highly satisfied with the functions of the ‘Neuro-Care’ app.
Conclusions: The ‘NeuroCare’ app was found to be feasible and may be a useful component for home care of postoperative neurosurgery patients.
Metrics
References
Olver JH, Ponsford JL, Curran CA. Outcome following traumatic brain injury: a comparison between 2 and 5 years after injury. Brain Inj. 1996;10(11):841-8.
Colantonio A, Ratcliff G, Chase S, Kelsey S, Escobar M, Vernich L. Long-term outcomes after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. Disabil Rehabil. 2004;26(5):253-61.
Anderson CS, Linto J, Stewart-Wynne EG. A population-based assessment of the impact and burden of caregiving for long-term stroke survivors. Stroke. 1995;26(5):843-9.
Kwentus JA, Hart RP, Peck ET, Kornstein S. Psychiatric complications of closed head trauma. Psychosomatics. 1985;26(1):8-17.
Papastavrou E, Charalambous A, Tsangari H. Exploring the other side of cancer care: the informal caregiver. Eur J Oncol Nurs. 2009;13(2):128-36.
Oupra R, Griffiths R, Pryor J, Mott S. Effectiveness of Supportive Educative Learning programme on the level of strain experienced by caregivers of stroke patients in Thailand. Health Soc Care Community. 2010;18(1):10-20.
Shyu YIL, Kuo LM, Chen MC, Chen ST. A clinical trial of an individualised intervention programme for family caregivers of older stroke victims in Taiwan. J Clin Nurs. 2010;19(11-12):1675-85.
Sureshkumar K, Murthy GVS, Munuswamy S, Goenka S, Kuper H. “Care for Stroke”, a web-based, smartphone-enabled educational intervention for management of physical disabilities following stroke: feasibility in the Indian context. BMJ Innov. 2015;1(3):127-36.
Kumar A, Khurana D, Pattanaik S, Kumar M, Modi M, Kaur S, et al. Abstract P839: ‘Stroke Home Care’- A Mobile Application: home based innovative nursing care intervention developed by stroke nurse: a need of the time in Covid-19 pandemic like situation. Stroke. 2021;52(Suppl_1):AP839-AP839.
Johnson CO, Nguyen M, Roth GA, Nichols E, Alam T, Abate D, et al. Global, regional, and national burden of stroke, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet Neurol. 2019;18(5):439-58.
Burns SP, Terblanche M, Perea J, Lillard H, DeLaPena C, Grinage N, et al. mHealth Intervention applications for adults living with the effects of stroke: a scoping review. Arch Rehabil Res Clin Transl. 2021;3(1):100095.
Kumar A, Khurana D, Pattanaik S, Kumar M, Kaur S, Krishnan NC, Ghai S, et al. A mobile application-based post-stroke care strategy for survivors and their caregivers for prevention and management of post-stroke complications-“Stroke Home Care:” Development and feasibility. J Neurosci Rural Pract. 2024;15(2):217.
Pugliese M, Ramsay T, Shamloul R, Mallet K, Zakutney L, Corbett D, et al. RecoverNow: A mobile tablet-based therapy platform for early stroke rehabilitation. PLoS One. 2019;14(1):e0210725.
Jang SH, Jang WH. The effect of a finger training application using a tablet PC in chronic hemiparetic stroke patients. Somatosens Mot Res. 2016;33(2):124-9.
Seo WK, Kang J, Jeon M, Lee K, Lee S, Kim JH, et al. Feasibility of using a mobile application for the monitoring and management of stroke-associated risk factors. J Clin Neurol. 2015;11(2):142-8.
Kumar A, Khurana D, Pattanaik S, Kumar M, Modi M, Kaur S, et al. Abstract WP451: “Development, Feasibility and Validation of ‘Stroke Home Care’ Application in a Resource Limited Setting: A Proof of Concept Study.” Stroke. 51(Suppl_1):AWP451-1.
Zaki M, Drazin D. Smartphone use in neurosurgery? APP-solutely!. Surgical neurology international. 2014;5.
Brown EL, Ruggiano N, Page TF, Roberts L, Hristidis V, Whiteman KL, et al. CareHeroes Web and AndroidTM apps for dementia caregivers: a feasibility study. Res Gerontol Nurs. 2016;9(4):193-203.
Tao H, McRoy S, Wang L. Would mobile health be a solution to rehospitalization? Nurs Health Sci. 2017;19(2):188-90.
Cameron JI, Chu LM, Matte A, Tomlinson G, Chan L, Thomas C, et al. One-year outcomes in caregivers of critically ill patients. N Engl J Med. 2016;374(19):1831-41.
Nakarada-Kordic I, Patterson N, Wrapson J, Reay SD. A systematic review of patient and caregiver experiences with a tracheostomy. Patient. 2018;11(2):175-91.
Nagi M, Kaur S, Kapoor S, Gupta SK. Skill development in suctioning technique among caregivers of patients going to be discharged with tracheostomy tube in situ. J Nurs Sci Pract. 2019;2(1):147-51.
Nagi M, Kapoor S, Kaur S, Gupta S. Effect of an intervention on performance regarding change of tracheostomy tube among the caregivers of the patient. Ind J Neurosur. 2014;3(0):31.
Madhanraj K, Sharma U, Kaur S, Tewari MK, Singh A. Impact of self-instruction manual-based training of family caregivers of neurosurgery patients on their knowledge and care practices - A randomized controlled trial. J Family Med Prim Care. 2019;8(1):209-14.
Kumar V, Singh A, Tewari MK, Kaur S. Caregivers’ perspective on home-based care of operated neurosurgery patients discharged from PGIMER, Chandigarh, India. Ind J Palliat Care. 2015;21(2):253-4.
Nam HS, Park E, Heo JH. Facilitating stroke management using modern information technology. J Stroke. 2013;15(3):135-43.
Mosa AS, Yoo I, Sheets L. A systematic review of healthcare applications for smartphones. BMC medical informatics and decision making. 2012;12:1-31.
Worringham C, Rojek A, Stewart I. Development and feasibility of a smartphone, ECG and GPS based system for remotely monitoring exercise in cardiac rehabilitation. PLoS One. 2011;6(2):e14669.
Dubey D, Amritphale A, Sawhney A, Amritphale N, Dubey P, Pandey A. Smart phone applications as a source of information on stroke. J Stroke. 2014;16(2):86-90.
Young-Afat DA, Gils CH van, Bruinvels DJ, Pol CC van der, Witkamp AJ, Sijtsema S, et al. Patients’ and health care providers’ opinions on a supportive health app during breast cancer treatment: a qualitative evaluation. JMIR Cancer. 2016;2(1):e5334.
