Have questions about your heart surgery? There's an app for that

Stacks of papers detailing pre- and post-surgery instructions for some New Brunswick cardiac patients may soon be a thing of the past. Horizon Health Network is using a national app that digitizes the cardiac surgery experience for patients.

The platform, called SeamlessMD, will send patients pre-surgery reminders and will allow them to fill out post-surgery surveys detailing their symptoms and healing progress.

Jennifer Sheils, vice-president strategy, transformation and chief innovation officer for Horizon, said bringing the app to the New Brunswick Heart Centre will mean easing anxiety for heart patients and giving them ways to engage with their team.

"There's such stress and fear and concern when you're going through a significant health event," said Sheils. "Anything we can do to help prepare a patient for what to expect and support them on their journey, even before they come in the doors of the hospital … it's an improvement."

Sheils speaks from personal experience.

She said her father has had a triple bypass, stents and a pacemaker inserted. Sheils said the app also helps to decrease anxiety for family members.

Dr. Joshua Liu, the CEO and co-founder of SeamlessMD, based in Toronto, said 50 per cent of patients choose to have a loved one or caregiver join the app with them so they can also track the patient's progress.

"We've had loved ones who have used the app to keep an eye on patients who live in a different province even," said Liu. "Engaging the caregivers and giving them access to the journey has been critical for access for the whole family as well."

The research and development of the app has been going on for 10 years now, said Liu, and it's used in hospitals and universities across Canada and the United States for pre- and post surgery, maternity care, mental health care and chronic care.

He said patients would normally be briefed with both paper and verbal instructions about their surgery, but people often end up losing these or forgetting what was said.

The app is personalized based on the information the patient inputs when they first sign on, said Liu. If they identify that they have diabetes, for example, the app would take that into consideration when providing advice.

New Brunswick Heart Centre patients are learning about the app now, said Sheils, and staff at the centre are being trained with the platform this week. Use of the platform is voluntary for patients. The budget for the project is $70,000, much of which is for licensing fees, according to Horizon.

Sheils hopes this tool will reduce the need for post-surgical patients to go to the emergency department for non-serious issues, since the app allows patients to check on the normality of their symptoms and send photos to their care team of things such as incisions. 

Liu said some SeamlessMD partners have seen a 70 per cent reduction in hospital readmissions with people using the platform and a 50 per cent reduction in visits back to the emergency room.

Over the years, Liu said the company realized the importance of making the platform accessible to all ages and backgrounds, which is why he said it is designed at a Grade 6 reading level, in multiple languages and can be accessed on a cell phone, tablet or desktop.

Liu said although SeamlessMD has been around for 10 years, he thinks they are still early on in the "digital health revolution," and that the pandemic has helped speed up the use of digital platforms in the medical field.

Sheils said Horizon is on a "transformation journey" when it comes to bringing in digital support for patients. 

She said while the use of SeamlessMD at the New Brunswick Heart Centre is mainly focused on open heart surgeries right now, Horizon is already working on a digital care plan for interventional cardiology patients, those who are in need of stents and other procedures done using catheters.

"When we look at the opportunity of incorporating digital care plans out to other perhaps surgical areas, I see great opportunity to look at that," whether it's joint replacement or other services that have a high wait list, said Sheils. 

"People are anxious and waiting to get in to have their services done, and what can we help enable them with is tools to get prepared and get ready and to reduce their anxiety."