Make wishtv.com your home page

IU creates healthcare app to track COVID

IU School of Nursing students met in February before mobilizing to conduct rural home health care visits in Orange County (photo courtesy of Eric Rudd, Indiana University)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Indiana University has joined forces with rural healthcare providers to track patient reports of COVID-19 symptoms and help residents make informed healthcare decisions. The IU team has developed a tool for residents in Indiana’s Orange and Crawford counties to monitor their symptoms and inform providers and public health officials of potential infections.

Software developer and data analyst David Tidd, along with doctoral student Kristina Mullis and associate professor Jon Macy in the IU School of Public Health in Bloomington developed the tool in partnership with the IU Center for Rural Engagement and Southern Indiana Community Health Care.

Residents of Orange and Crawford counties can use the online app to journal their symptoms and track their health.

Dr. Yolanda Yoder, a family practitioner with Southern Indiana Community Health Care and adjunct clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the IU School of Medicine, said, “This tracking tool can enhance communication as we plan the best course of care for our patient, whether it’s education on early symptoms, advice about quarantine practices or decisions about medical interventions. And with limited testing available, the data we collect can give us an epidemiologic view into our rural communities during this pandemic, with a more comprehensive picture as we make decisions moving forward.”

The university says the symptom tracking system is the second collaboration for Macy, the Center for Rural Engagement and Southern Indiana Community Health Care.

More information can be found by clicking here.