Researchers at the Institute of Health and Society at The University of Oslo are developing an app that can help spread new medical knowledge as soon as it is available.

A patient wants the best possible treatment when admitted to a healthcare facility. The reality is that research results to practical application can be a lengthy process. Owing to assessment and comparison of new findings within a particular field, this can take more than a year and, by this time, new studies have been published.

Per Olav Vandvik, a researcher at the Institute of Health and Society, is aiming to share knowledge shared more swiftly with an app he and his colleagues have developed called MAGICapp.

The app will gather evidence-based medical knowledge from around the world and disseminate it quickly and efficiently to users.

"We want doctors and patients to be able to reap the benefits from new knowledge more easily," Vandvik explains.

Quality Control

"It is obviously essential that the information in MAGICapp is totally reliable," Vandvik said in a report published with the institute.

To this end, all information in the app comes from established organisations and specialist communities that develop medical guidelines. These bodies assess new findings against internationally-accepted standards, and then spread the information to health personnel and authorities.

Many countries have started to use MAGICapp. The Norwegian Directorate of Health has established an innovation project with the aim of using MAGICapp for all national guidelines. MAGICapp is used by the Danish Health Authority, the Finnish Medical Association and others.

See Also: Big Data for Health in Europe

Wide Use
"It is important to us that results be made available to a wider audience," Vandvik said.

Content will be available to the general public as well as medical professionals so both can jointly open the app and find recommended therapies and other necessary medical knowledge.

The information will be layered all the way down to studies on which facts and figures are based so users can choose how deep they wish to go.

"Our goal is that the app should help promote a good dialogue between therapists and patients," Vandvik said. "Useless therapies are an unnecessary burden on the patients and a waste of health resources.”

 
Source: UiO

Image Credit: WikiCommons

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