A Rutgers – Camden nursing student has developed a smart-phone app that’s designed to help heart disease patients manage their symptoms.

Cell Phone Apps
Flickr User Carissa Rogers
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“This tool was designed to cross the healthcare continuum and has allowed our organization to deliver very important self-management education,” said Shannon Patel, manager of AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s Heart Failure Program and an RN-to-BS student at the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden.

The WOW ME 2000mg apptakes its name from an acronym that reminds patients to:

  • Weigh themselves
  • Measure their Output of fluids
  • Walk and be active
  • Take their medications
  • Evaluate signs and symptoms
  • Limit salt intake to 2000 mg or less, with 1500 mg being optimal

The app prompts users with reminders and allows them to enter information about how they are managing their symptoms. It also links them with AtlantiCare’s Heart Failure Resource Team and other providers.

Patel points out many heart failure programs around the country are struggling to find ways to successfully teach heart failure self-management techniques. She also says there is no standardized approach to reinforcement of the information taught to patients and oftentimes, patients receive differing and conflicting information depending on where they go for treatment.

The RN-to-BS program at the Rutgers School of Nursing–Camden is designed for students who already hold a registered nurse license. The curriculum builds on the existing foundation of nursing knowledge and clinical experience possessed by registered nurses. For more information on the program, click here.

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