Interested in using mHealth technology but don’t know how to start?

Interested in using mHealth technology but don’t know how to start?

On a previous blog post, we established that patients value mHealth technology; therefore, the sooner healthcare providers embrace this technology, the better.

Fortunately, mHealth technology does not only offer benefits for patients, it also solves many of today’s healthcare challenges, since it provides public and private healthcare providers the scalability to treat more patients with fewer resources.

Nevertheless, in spite of the clear benefits, most healthcare providers, have not yet fully adopted mHealth technology due to several reasons:

  • Lack of budget
  • Lack of awareness of the benefits of using the technology
  • Feeling overwhelmed on the increasing amount of health apps available
  • Fear of the amount of time needed to learn to use the new technology
  • Strong belief that patients’ lack of the necessary knowledge to use the technology

Fortunately, our mHealth solution can help you avoid these obstacles. Here’s how:

  • Lack of Budget: 
    • A lack of budget may seem like the largest impediment to acquiring digital health tools and necessary technology. However, this should be considered as a valuable investment.  One of the most tangible benefits of using portable, real time updated, mobile health technology is its consistent availability for patients and clinicians. Our mHealth solution synchronises the data from the patient’s smartphone to the clinician’s web portal in real time. Patients can feel connected to their treatment and their clinician beyond scheduled sessions. mHealth technology can ultimately record more data and information regarding the patient’s progress than old pen and paper methods, and provide availability and support for the patient when the clinician cannot physically be there. A more informed treatment can save time and resources for patient and healthcare alike.
  • There are several benefits to using our technology that you may have not known of:
  • Another barrier that healthcare professionals may face is the selection of the right mHealth solution.
    • Although there are currently 165,000 mobile health apps on the market, the selection does not have to be daunting. A good way to begin this selection is by identifying and specifying what types of disorders you would like assistance with from your mHealth app.  Another way to narrow down the selection is through the identification of the mHealth solutions that possess quality stamps (such as CE Marks and ISO certifications) as well as a clinical validation. In order to obtain the certification, these solutions must have passed a set of agreed upon standards for medical devices that cover data security management and quality of material.
  • Interactive and consistent support: 
    • We understand that using technology can be frustrating and difficult, which is why at Monsenso we offer several ways to get help from real people – instead of an automated service.  We offer an interactive support portal and dedicated customer support team, as well as a detailed user guide.

Still have questions about mHealth? Feel free to contact us or leave us a comment below.

I Truly Believe Monsenso Can Help Others with Bipolar Disorder Type 2

I Truly Believe Monsenso Can Help Others with Bipolar Disorder Type 2

Peter Hagelund’s has a documentary series in Danish called “Jeg savner min sygdom” which translates to “I miss my illness” the series is about living with Bipolar Disorder Type 2. Click on this link to watch the documentary.

In 2014, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

During my whole life, I had known that something was different about me. I always struggled with depression and anxiety, and what eventually turned out to be hypomania. When I was 22, I had my first big depression episode and had to start taking antidepressants. However, it would take me six more years before I was officially diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2.

The tricky thing about having this diagnosis is that you do not experience the typical manic episode where you are over-energetic and nearly psychotic. Instead, you’re hypomanic, which means that you’re socially well functioning. You’re not psychotic. You actually feel really good. So the problem is, that you don’t go to your psychiatrist and say that you feel too well. At least I didn’t.

The reason why my psychiatrist found out I had Bipolar Disorder was because I couldn’t get out of my depression. At first, my psychiatrist diagnosed me with depression and ADD. But these diagnoses didn’t seem to fit because I still had strong mood swings and a lot of anxiety. When I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder Type 2, it actually made sense. Suddenly, I could see why I had felt the way I had most of my life.

I really believe that the Monsenso smartphone app could have helped my psychiatrist give me the right diagnosis at an earlier stage because the app helps me to keep track of my mood and to become more aware of how I feel. With the app, I have to pause and take a moment to think about how I’ve actually been doing before entering my answers. Keeping track of all this information has helped my treatment. My psychiatrist and I can plan better on how to avoid my future depressive or hypomanic episodes because we can clearly identify when I am having mood swings.  

In August 2018, my documentary about living with Bipolar Disorder aired on national Danish television and the response was overwhelming. Many people have contacted me, to thank me for talking about my illness. I had made the documentary so other people who have this illness, are not ashamed of it and I think I succeeded.

My hope is that in the future people are diagnosed at an earlier stage than I was and I truly believe the Monsenso app is one of the things that can help. I really hope that other psychiatrists and their patients will start using the app.

Click here to read this story in Danish.

“Monsenso helps me to maintain balance between manic and depressive episodes.” Mads Trier-Blom’s Customer Story

“Monsenso helps me to maintain balance between manic and depressive episodes.” Mads Trier-Blom’s Customer Story

Monsenso user, Mads Trier-Blom, speaks of his experience using the Monsenso app as a part of a clinical trial. The Monsenso app has helped Mads to become more connected with his clinician, Bente so that she could help intervene with Mads’s moods even before it turned into an episode.

The app helped him to become more aware of his mood, and other factors, such as sleep, and their influence on his bipolar affective disorder. To Mads, having bipolar disorder means constantly keep a balance, to prevent losing control to either depressive or manic episodes.

“In my life with bipolar disorder, I see myself as a tightrope walker. This metaphor for living with bipolar disorder is very meaningful. I feel like a tightrope walker because when living with bipolar disorder, you constantly have to prevent losing control to either depressive episodes or manic episodes. You are able to avoid this through earlier registration on how your mood is fluctuating so that the app can help you to keep in control of your life.” says Mads Trier-Blom.

During Mads’s time in his clinical trial, he felt more connected to his clinician, Bente. He recalls an instance where he had missed completing his self-assessments for a couple of days, and Bente had called him to check and see how he was doing. With Bente calling to check in on him, it helped Mads to become more aware of how his mood.

“One day, I was driving in my car and I was a little tense. Suddenly, the phone rang. It was this lady, saying, ‘Hi, my name is Bente and I just wanted to hear about how you are doing. At first, I was like,’Who are you, why are you calling me?’ and then she said, ‘Well, you’re on this trial and I can see that you haven’t made registrations for 3 days. So I thought, ‘Oh yeah, this is true. I am kind of tense at the moment, but yeah I think it’s okay; but still this answering back to the clinician and the clinician is able to call you back which makes you aware and alert.” says Mads Trier-Blom.

“I wouldn’t be able to keep track of my mood before Monsenso.” Peter Hagelund’s Customer Story

“I wouldn’t be able to keep track of my mood before Monsenso.” Peter Hagelund’s Customer Story

In this video, Monsenso User Peter Hagelund speaks about his experience using our mobile health solution to support his bipolar disorder treatment, and how the solution has helped improve and inform his communication with his psychiatrist.

Prior to using the app, Peter & his psychiatrist followed the typical therapeutic setting, they would meet for an appointment every two-three weeks, and they would have a conversation regarding Peter’s past weeks.  Peter would usually say that he had been fine for each appointment, but he would sometimes forget important details regarding his previous weeks that he wanted to discuss.

“It can be pretty tricky to remember, two weeks later [between appointments] how you actually felt that day. With the app it’s really easy to go back and see if your mood has been pretty stable over the last two months, or if you had had some ups and downs over a period,” says Peter Hagelund.

With the app, instead of relying solely on their conversation and Peter’s memory during the appointment, Peter’s psychiatrist can now access his logged data and see how he has been doing, as it is happening. His psychiatrist can view how much he has been sleeping, how much he exercises, how much he drinks, how much anxiety he has, and other relevant aspects to his treatment and his disorder.

“By having the [Monsenso] app, my psychiatrist can actually go into it and see how I’ve been doing, as in, yeah, you say you’ve been doing fine, but I can actually see that you’ve had a bit of ups and a bit of downs, and I think [the app] helps your psychiatrist to get a really honest view of how we, as patients, have been.” says Peter Hagelund.