The study will be carried out in collaboration with 3 hospitals in Madrid

(Madrid, February 24, 2016). The Lovexair Foundation has launched the first pilot study of its "HappyAir" mobile app for chronic respiratory patients at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid. A group of 5 patients is already testing the operation of the new app, which is part of a new comprehensive program for the monitoring of people with respiratory pathologies. Soon two other groups of 5 patients each will begin the same program at the University Hospitals of The princess y Jiménez Díaz Foundation.

The app is part of the HappyAir Program, which offers a daily care plan, tailored to the person with a respiratory condition. The program is based on education and rehabilitation sessions, with the direct support of an educator -respiratory physiotherapist, who will accompany and guide the patient at all times and will educate him/her in the self-care of his illness-, and the collaboration of his doctor specialist and other health professionals. Patients, educators and doctors will be connected through an online platform and the mobile app that is being studied.

Optimal level of self-care

The objective of the Happyair Program is to achieve an optimal level of self-care and improve adherence to treatments and therapies so that chronic patients gain quality of life, improve their well-being and achieve more independence. For this, the educator will accompany the patient in her daily care, will motivate her to practice the exercises recommended for him, to follow the respiratory therapy and the taking of medications prescribed by his doctor. This continued accompaniment will help the patient learn to self-manage their disease.

Currently, the respiratory rehabilitation programs that are carried out in the hospital centers of our country represent a widely demonstrated benefit in the treatment of these diseases. However, once these programs are completed, there is little adherence to maintaining the established guidelines. Adherence has therefore become a challenge for current medicine. e-Health is proposed as a solution to this problem.

Improve adherence to treatment

The HappyAir mobile app, together with the continuous follow-up of the patient carried out by the educator, brings together the necessary characteristics to improve this problem. To test it and obtain medical endorsement from health professionals, this pilot study aims to improve adherence to comprehensive treatment after pulmonary rehabilitation. To do this, a team from October 12 Hospital made up of Dr. Virginia Pérez, a pulmonologist, Dr. Lourdes Juarros, a rehabilitation doctor, and Marta Sánchez, a respiratory physiotherapist, is supervising the correct evolution of the first group of patients.

After completing the first phase of respiratory rehabilitation, some of the patients, randomly selected to form the "intervention group", have received an informative talk on the use of the HappyAir mobile app. From that moment, the respiratory educator will follow up for 10 months to determine the patient's adherence to the good habits acquired after rehabilitation, their degree of improvement and the quality and reliability of the HappyAir program.

Once the service has the necessary medical endorsement, and is adequately prepared and documented, the Foundation will make it available to HappyAir members: patients and relatives, collaborating associations and other partners with whom it is agreed to transfer a license to use the service.

Contribution to scientific research

The Lovexair Foundation has as a partner with Persei Consulting, a company specialized in clinical data management with more than 15 years of experience. Thanks to them, and provided that the patient gives their express consent to participate in research studies, Lovexair will be able to contribute to scientific research to develop new therapies that treat respiratory conditions.

This pilot study is only a first step. Lovexair will continue testing the service with other health professionals: primary care doctors, pulmonologists, allergists, pharmacists and other specialists who want to carry out a comprehensive follow-up of their chronic patients. The service is an opportunity to bring together professionals in a multidisciplinary environment, which allows the patient to be better guided in their personal care plan.

The Foundation will promptly report on the evolution of the pilot study and the results obtained in each participating hospital.