The Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia (CEMM), established by the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, released two health apps this week, which are available for anyone who receive health insurance benefits from the military.
The first app, My Pregnancy A to Z Journal, offers pregnancy tracking tools including a pregnancy journal, an appointment manager, a health data tracker (for biometric and vitals data), a kick counter and a to-do list. Women can also track their pregnancy through pictures that they can take and store within the app. A patient has the option to program the app to send push notifications to her phone in different stages of the woman's pregnancy. For example, an app can push timely medical advice to a patient in her third trimester, CEMM Director Lt. Col. Constance Smith said in a statement.
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences is in the process of conducting a clinical trial of the pregnancy app. The University will use the results to improve the app further.
The other app, called CEMM Virtual Medical Center (VMC), allows the patient to see physician question and answer lists, access a Tricare plan finder, and locate a military treatment facility. Patients can also organize their medical data, for example vaccinations, in the app.
"The CEMM VMC app features a medication reminder system; this is a valuable tool especially for patients who have difficulties remembering to take their medication," Smith said in a statement. "Patients can input what medication they are taking and what time they need to take the medication, and the mobile app can remind them when they need to take it."
CEMM plans to release a third app in the summer of 2014 called eWellness, which aims to track a patient's general health and also certain medical conditions, like diabetes.
Smith said the app will feature seven tools including a weight and fitness tracker, so patients can manage their calorie count and body mass index.
"Our main goal, of course, is to help patients stay well," Smith said. "We are focused on educating today's Airmen -- who are tech-savvy and accustomed to accessing knowledge at their fingertips -- so they can be fit to accomplish their respective parts of the Air Force mission."
The Department of Veteran Affairs, which has been developing its own suite of apps for the past few years, has shared information about the app with different heads of its organization -- the Women Veteran Program Managers, Women's Health Medical Directors and Maternity Care Coordinators. The VA plans to encourage its providers to promote the app to members via its Clinical Practice Guidelines site.
