SingHealth's MyCare app allows patients easy access to their medical information

Patients at Singapore General Hospital may soon be able to access all their individual care information any time they wish simply by turning to the iPad by their bedside.

A collaboration between SingHealth nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, Office for Service Transformation and IT specialists from Integrated Health Information Systems, the MyCare app gives patients easy access to their daily care schedule and updates on their medical information.

The custom app also comes with interactive features such as a messaging function that allows patients to ask specific questions about their care plan, or to put in requests for water, pillow or housekeeping services. Educational videos and care tips will also be available, so patients can learn to better care for themselves.

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How it works is like this: If you're warded, the nurse will activate MyCare upon admission by scanning your identity tag and confirming your personal details. You'll also get a unique password to access your information on MyCare each time you log in. Of course, you can choose to grant access rights to your caregivers.

You will also be allowed to set an additional password to further secure diagnosis and test results so that only you can access that information. Upon discharge, the app will leverage iOS and iPad's built-in security and privacy features to ensure your record will be deleted completely, thus maintaining the security of your personal data.

The app is very useful because I can view my vital signs and test results on the iPad. Instead of pressing the call bell and letting the nurse know that I need a hot drink, I can now use the app. It's also reassuring to know that my medical information will be deleted from the iPad upon my discharge. 

Mr Quek Joo Tiang, 71 years old, SGH patient.

Our nurses mooted the idea to develop MyCare as part of ongoing efforts to empower patients. By providing patients with easy access to their daily care schedule, test results and education materials, it enables them to better understand their treatment and recovery process. Following patient feedback, we started offering education materials on chemotherapy regimens on the app. We also introduced new options for them to request for toileting assistance and for additional beverage, or snacks. We hope to partner more patients to improve the app's usability and create features that meet their needs.

Adj A/Prof Tracy Carol Ayre, Group Chief Nurse, SingHealth

Also introduced, were a set of wearables that allow nurses to get vital health readings from the patients sent to them periodically. This means they no longer have to wake patients to get readings on a periodic basis as the wearables will get the measurements automatically. The measurements are also collected and sent into the hospital's system, which in turn feeds this to the MyCare app for the patient to view later.

SingHealth plans to progressively roll out iPads with MyCare across SGH, Changi General Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and National Heart Centre Singapore by 2021.

This article was first published in Hardware Zone.