An increasing number of schools are using digital health as a proactive measure to support their students’ mental and physical health.
More young people have been experiencing mental health challenges during lockdown, those receiving NHS treatment before the crisis are receiving reduced or no support at all, and providing remote pastoral care and PSHE is difficult.
Now, as staff plan for the return to school, whilst continuing remote learning too, an increasing number of schools are using digital health as a proactive measure to support their students’ mental and physical health.
Whether as remote pastoral care, part of the return to school process, or general self care for teachers as well as students during school closure, your Digital Healthy Schools App Library is a safe, quick and effective resource to support your students and staff struggling with mental or physical health challenges.
Here, we look at the top five health issues pupils are most searching for help with, and highlight a top-scoring app that can help in each of these areas.
Take steps now to encourage your students to use your App Library and access apps to help their specific needs.
Almost one hundred schools across the UK have now activated their Digital Healthy Schools account. These App Libraries can be used to provide remote access to quality assured apps so that students and their families can learn about and manage their mental and physical health.
Over the past three months, the top five most searched for health topics across the Digital Healthy Schools App Libraries have been: sleep, stress, stopping smoking, healthy living, and anxiety.
This search data indicates that looking after students’ mental health and helping them stay healthy has never been more important.
Below, we suggest a top-scoring app for each of these five health issues:
To search for, recommend or download these apps and many more, please go to your local DHS App Library.
*may include in-app purchases
We share our data insights from the first quarter on since COVID-19 came to the UK
Over the past three months, there has been an explosion in digital health adoption as people look for remote ways to manage their health and wellbeing. National Government COVID-19 strategies, local authorities and consumers, have all turned to health apps, both as a potential means of slowing the spread of the virus, and a method of allowing people to self-manage their own health.
Our App Libraries are used by services serving a population of 20 million, thereby acting as a barometer for how the UK is engaging with digital health.
This week, we share our data insights from the first quarter on since COVID-19 came to the UK.1 How fast have digital health adoption rates escalated? What are the most popular searches? And which health and care apps have been downloaded the most?
More consumers have been using health and care apps. In just one week, we saw an increase of 182.5% in app downloads from our App Libraries, and a 6,500% increase in app recommendations from health and care professionals. But what condition areas are people searching for on app libraries?
We can see from the data across our App Libraries that the most popular search terms over the past quarter, in addition to ‘COVID’, have included: mental health, physiotherapy, MSK, fitness, anxiety, activity, neurology, rehabilitation, diabetes, respiratory, and sleep.
Whereas ‘COVID’ was initially the most searched term at the beginning of the outbreak, people are now searching for specific condition areas. This indicates a shift in focus to actively self-managing health and wellbeing, as well as a desire for knowledge about particular health areas.
Our word cloud below provides a visualisation of the most popular searches over the past three months:
The below list gives an insight into the top five most downloaded apps across our App Libraries over the past three months:
———————
References:
1) British Foreign Policy Group: COVID-19 Timeline
If you want your medical practice to grow, you have to find effective ways to improve the patient experience.
We are delighted to feature this guest article on enhanced software application, written by Cloe Matheson, a freelance writer who hails from New Zealand.
Delivering a positive patient experience should be the first priority of any medical practice.
After all, it’s the patient experience that boosts patient retention and keeps your practice going.
There are a few factors that contribute to a good patient experience. Quality medical care, strong patient engagement and an efficient workflow are crucial. To achieve any of these things, it’s important for your practice to have high-quality medical software.
We’re living in the digital age where medical practices are relying on technology to exchange medical information. The more efficient your software is, the more efficiently your practice will run. Here’s how enhanced software application can benefit the patient experience for all:
Workflow efficiency is crucial to the success of any medical practice. A medical practice that is efficient and productive leaves a positive impression on patients. It also helps to boost job satisfaction amongst employees, which improves employee retention.
Using enhanced software application will improve workplace efficiency in many ways. We all know that managing a medical practice is not an easy job. Providers are faced with an array of patient responsibilities and administrative tasks on a daily basis.
Providers can use healthcare software to exchange patient information in a more organised and efficient manner. This allows you to update patient details and schedules, and follow up with patients accordingly.
Improve efficiency in the workplace by using medical software with voice-recognition features. This allows you to insert data quickly on your device. You can transcribe your medical report on your device and minimise your paperwork dramatically. With less administrative tasks to deal with, you’ll have more time to focus on patient care.
Consider opting for platforms that have specialty-specific templates to suit each provider’s preferences. This makes it much easier to select lab orders and medications when you need to. This will make your workplace more organised as a whole, which your patients will appreciate. With better time management thanks to advanced technology, you can see more patients in less time.
However, before investing in new software, it’s important to sort out any technical issues. A speedy internet connection is essential to your workflow efficiency. With faster internet, you can further ensure everything runs smoothly.
When patients visit your practice, they want to feel confident that they are getting the best possible care. Your level of engagement with patients makes all the difference to your reputation.
Multi-site enabled medical software enables you to engage with patients anywhere in the world. This means providers can support patients both during and after discharge. With this support, patients will feel more engaged with their providers throughout the process. This will help to build their trust, and make them more loyal towards your practice. If a patient has a positive experience with your practice, they are more likely to recommend you to other people.
All of these factors will help to boost your reputation and attract more people to your practice. This provides you with the opportunity to improve medical care further.
If you want your medical practice to grow, you have to find effective ways to improve the patient experience. Investing in better software will improve patient engagement, and make your workplace more efficient as a whole.
Cloe Matheson is a freelance writer who hails from New Zealand. She has penned articles for numerous local sites. When she’s not writing, Cloe likes to browse through business articles. Read more of her published works on Tumblr.
The opinions expressed by the guest writer are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ORCHA or its employees. ORCHA is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information given by guest writers.
How have app developers been bypassing app store security?
Given the challenges the world is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, app developers have been quick to create digital solutions to help people manage their health and, potentially, slow the spread of COVID-19. But they have also been equally fast in spotting a loophole in app store security, in order to get their apps to market.
Apple’s App Store requires a COVID-19 app to have been developed in partnership with the NHS, or requires documentation from the NHS showing that they have authorised the distribution of the app’s content. The Google Play Store has also put similar requirements in place for any app claiming to be COVID-19 related.
To avoid these restrictions, app developers have spotted that, by entering their app under the category of ‘COVO 19’, they can bypass app store regulations needed in order to appear under ‘COVID 19’.
But should we be concerned by this move? As an independent assessor of health and care apps, ORCHA has reviewed 17 of the COVID-19 apps available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Cumulatively, these apps have been downloaded over 1,580,000 times on Google Play alone.
The outcome of our reviews has revealed that, yes, we should be concerned about the quality of COVID-19 apps, as they are of very mixed quality. It also revealed that the steps taken by app stores have failed, not just because developers found a work around, but because one NHS app didn’t list under COVID-19, and the fact that those apps that do not meet the stores’ criteria actually achieve a higher ORCHA Score than the apps that do.
Almost 60% of all COVID-19 apps reviewed scored below ORCHA’s quality threshold. Whilst some apps performed particularly well, many apps hovered just above or below the cut-off score, and some apps achieved dangerously low scores. The few apps that managed to enter app stores using the ‘COVO 19’ loophole achieved an average score of 71.6%. This is around ten percentage points higher than the average score achieved by all COVID-19 apps reviewed by ORCHA.
Looking at why apps achieved these scores, the strongest results were seen in User Experience, with the average score in this review domain being 76%. This is good to see, as, for an app to be used by all, it must be easy to use.
Data Privacy is where the biggest weaknesses lay. The average score for COVID-19 apps in this review domain is 55%. This is of concern and requires action, as, if we are asking people to use an app, they also need to have a very clear understanding of how secure their data is, so that they can make an informed choice as to when to use the app and what data to share.
It is to be expected that, due to the unprecedented nature of COVID-19, Clinical Assurance scores might not be as high as non-COVID apps that we have reviewed; the average score here was 57%.
The challenge remains, therefore, of helping consumers to understand which apps are potentially unsafe to use, and ensuring that consumers are armed with the full facts about the strengths and weakness of an app before it is downloaded.