Prince of Wales Hospital Cardiology Department trialling new smartphone application

Total Cardiac Care, a new smartphone application, is to be trialled this year by the Department of Cardiology at Prince of Wales Hospital. The application uses Bluetooth technology to help monitor the health of patient’s hearts after they have left hospital. 

The trial is led by Dr Sze-Yuan Ooi, a cardiologist at Prince of Wales, and Professor Nigel Lovell, of the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of New South Wales.

Patients selected for the trial will own a smartphone and have been admitted to hospital with either a heart attack or symptoms of heart failure. Patients in the trial will receive the smartphone application, as well as a Bluetooth enabled weighing scale, blood pressure machine and activity band. Measurements taken using these devices will be transmitted via the patient’s own smartphone to a secure server that will be accessed by the research team.

Dr Sze-Yuan Ooi said the application also allows patients to monitor their own progress, and delivers lifestyle advice and education to patients in a format similar to a text message.

“It also allows us to monitor our patients in their homes and if their measurements are outside the normal range it triggers our team to respond.” says Dr Ooi, “It helps us to detect and act upon early warning signs if our patient’s heart condition is deteriorating.”

The partners supporting the trial include Prince of Wales Hospital, University of NSW Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, the Heart Foundation, Austria Institute of Technology, University of Sydney School of Nursing and Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation.

It is anticipated that Total Cardiac Care will help to manage patients heart health after they have been in hospital, prevent them being readmitted to hospital, and help motivate and educate patients about their condition.

For more information, email tcc@unsw.edu.au