New app helps asthma patients detail condition before attack

New app helps asthma patients detail condition before attack

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SALT LAKE CITY — Asthma attacks can come on suddenly and need to be treated immediately. AsthmaAlly, a new app, eliminates the need to recall pertinent information in a time of stress.

Someone suffering from an attack may not be thinking clearly when they rush to a doctor to be treated. Simple questions about their behavior — and what may have triggered the attack — may be difficult for them to recall as they struggle to cope with their asthma.

In 2010, Josh Dees found himself talking with Dr. Richard Hendershot at IHC. The emergency visit was plagued with misinformation and Dees struggled to remember details about his prescription and behavior that had led to his asthma attack.

The two started talking about the possibility of an app that could be updated in less critical situations and contain information about exercise and medication that would result in a better diagnosis for a patient with asthma or chronic sinus allergies. In the course of their brainstorming, AsthmaAlly was born.

“Without pertinent data points relevant to the patient’s individualized experience, doctors are left to prescribe based upon their own background and experience — which treatments and medications do they prefer given generalized symptoms,” allergy and immunology specialist Hendershot said in a release. “AsthmaAlly takes the focus off the attending physician and puts it back where it should be, on the patient and the particulars of his or her background and symptoms.”

Patients submit information about their day — in as much detail as they choose — and the data is compared with other patients in the doctor’s practice, as well as air quality data at the time and place of the report. Parent company OSIA Medical took pains to secure the proper HIPPA and government approvals to compare patient data.

Available on Android, iPhone and Windows phones, the app aims to revolutionize the way asthma patients treat their disease and prevent any tragedies.

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UtahScience
Amanda Taylor

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