Posted by Sarah Nocito on December 11, 2012
Thanks for joining ImproveCareNow for #ibdweek! If you're still not sure what that means, then go over to your Twitter account and type #ibdweek into the search box to see all the conversations that include that tag. I bet there will be a lot!
In honor of #ibdweek, ImproveCareNow was so lucky to have three awesome ladies from the PAC - Patient Advisory Council - writing fresh new posts about health care innovations being developed by the C3N Project and tested by patients in the ImproveCareNow Network. These innovations are going to help the ImproveCareNow Network transform chronic illness care for kids with IBD.
Jill - chair of the PAC - asked Is Awareness Enough and shared how Personal Experience is so critical in helping to design the best care possible for each and every patient. Believe it or not, doctors don't know everything.
Jennie - wrote Ginger.io - the 'Psychic' Phone, about the iPhone and Android smartphone app that Jennie and others are testing right now. The app collects data, called Passive Patient Reported Outcomes, and compiles them to help patients and doctors understand how activity is affected by IBD - and how changes in activity might predict the onset of a flare. Shoulder to Shoulder is about patient activation - or empowering patients and families in getting meaningfully involved in the design and delivery of their own care.
Sami - wrote Emma: Your Waiting Room Ally, about an iPad app that's bridging the gap between tech-savvy patients and their doctors. Sami also wrote Not Alone: A Guide for the Climb, about the Self-Management Program - "Any tool that simplifies the complexities of living as a young person with a chronic illness is welcome in my book. A free PDF of the handbook is available on the ImproveCareNow website; and will soon be released as a digital interactive program. Sami finished out #ibdweek with YouMeIBD: Making the Connection. It is a social networking platform that is all about bringing patients together based on more than just a diagnosis. Here are two screen shots: