All patients recovering from surgery would love to have a doctor standing by 24/7 to answer questions, give guidance and offer a little (ok, a lot of) TLC. Unless you’re Tom Brady or a Kardashian, this level of care is unlikely to happen — even with the best insurance program. This article explores how using a post-surgery app can help support recovery.

How a Post-op App Can Improve the Patient Experience

The good news is that, with an increasing number of apps guiding patients through the surgery process, everyone can feel like they are getting personalized post-surgery care through their mobile device.

While these platforms can’t replace the face-to-face care provided by a doctor or other health professional (although we admit some have a better bedside manner!), they are a great intermediary.

The benefits of medical apps for patients are many. For example, they can:

• Give patients greater control over their recovery
• Track drug doses
• Encourage and guide recovery exercises
• Reassure patients if certain symptoms or situations arise

Should physicians think apps have no place in their medical armory, research has shown that enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs reduce the length of hospital stay and patient morbidity.

Consequently, more and more hospitals and healthcare facilities are upping their ERAS game. This includes using a post-surgery app, so expect to see an uptick in use as healthcare becomes increasingly digitized.

Three Apps Supporting Recovery After Surgery

Here are the three best medical apps for patients already being used by hospitals and care facilities. These post-op apps help them keep an eye on patients while making the often long and difficult recovery period a little easier.

SeamlessMD

SeamlessMD provides patients with a “virtual companion” as they travel through their surgical journey. It supports them through their preparation for and recovery from surgery, using reminders, tasks, progress tracking, and feedback for caregivers.

It also tracks paper and verbal instructions, removing any confusion or doubt about what patients should and shouldn’t do before and after surgery.

The medical app for doctors and patients, helps track symptoms and recovery milestones. It also pushes data back to the healthcare provider in real time, so they can spot if something is wrong or not working and adjust their care plan accordingly — all without patients having to leave their living room.

TapCloud

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Medicine, a fifth of all patients in the US are readmitted within three weeks of discharge, due to confusion about what to do post discharge.

TapCloud takes the guesswork out of recovery. It reminds patients to take their medication, change their bandages, and offers gentle encouragement to do their daily exercises.

The pre- and post-surgery app uses machine learning to respond with the appropriate guidance or instruction, and currently includes over 100 specific conditions for pre- and post-surgical procedures. It tracks how the patient is doing over time, ensuring they are not experiencing unexpected pain or side effects.

A customized word cloud enables patients to tap on whatever symptom they are feeling at a particular moment.

As it learns from the patient’s previous responses, it also:

• Watches for patterns that could indicate a complication
• Scans for medication side effects
• Adds side effects to the word cloud

All of this helps ensure the patient is not having an adverse reaction to their meds. The app’s advanced analytics alert the care team in real time when a patient requires attention.

Using patient responses, TapCloud measures and monitors results in five areas:

• Well-being
• Symptoms
• Pain
• Medication
• Vitals

This then enables physicians to update care plans, reassess medications, and send messages. It also allows patients to share their dashboard with anyone they choose, facilitating quick transfer of information among care providers and supporting recovery after surgery.

TrackMyRecovery

TrackMyRecovery does what it says on the box — it gives patients, physicians, and other healthcare providers easy-to-use tools to help the recovery process along.

The app is free and can be used on a tablet or smartphone to keep track of pre- and post-operative instructions. Medical practitioners can easily create, update, and assign personalized patient instructions.

Surgeons and other caregivers can use the app to ensure patients follow their instructions, making sure nothing — from lack of understanding to failure to adhere to directives — impedes recovery.

This tracking system can also save surgeons valuable time and money by ensuring patients comply with pre-operative instructions, minimizing last-minute cancellations.

Similarly, compliance with post-op instructions can help reduce post-op infections, unnecessary follow-up appointments, and time-consuming phone calls.

For anyone worried about sensitive data being compromised, all the apps listed above meet or exceed HIPAA requirements.

How Will a Post-surgery App Connecting Doctors and Patients Continue to Advance?

While a post-surgery app may seem more Dr. Who than Dr. House, technology is going to play an increasingly important part in healthcare as “connected health” becomes more common and widespread.

Being able to stay in touch with physicians and caregivers – especially after surgery when mobility may be compromised – means more surgeons will be utilizing digital tech to give their patients “one-to-one” care at the push of a button. 

As mobile technology develops, medical apps for doctors and patients are likely to become more advanced and specific. It’s clear apps aren’t going to replace surgeons anytime soon – although who knows what technological leaps are on the horizon.

Surgeons and physicians can, however, use technology to reduce the burden of non-essential clinical supervision, freeing up more time to deal with new cases.

There are many additional benefits to using technology for physicians. For example, using the SurgiApp can help update surgeons in real-time and empower them to support patients post-surgery.

Discover with Surgimate how you can improve the patient experience pre- and post-surgery by utilizing the benefits of modern technology.