Patient survey: Florio Haemo smartphone app reliable, easy to use
App lets patients track infusions, bleeds, pain, activities, and manage medication
Most caregivers or patients with hemophilia who were on preventive treatment were satisfied or very satisfied with the Florio Haemo smartphone app, even after prolonged use, a survey study suggests.
The app lets patients track their infusions, bleeds, pain, and activities, and helps them manage their medication stock.
“Our survey results suggest that the Florio Haemo hemophilia monitoring app is easy to use and appropriate for long-term use by people with hemophilia and/or their parents/caregivers,” the researchers wrote in “florio®HAEMO: A Longitudinal Survey of Patient Preference, Adherence and Wearable Functionality in Central Europe,” in Advances in Therapy.
People with hemophilia need to carefully plan their preventive replacement therapy, a mainstay treatment that replaces the clotting factor patients are missing.
Smartphone apps have been developed to help people with hemophilia more easily manage the important details of living with the disorder. The Florio Haemo app, which can be combined with a wearable device, lets patients track key parameters of disease management, including treatment.
A previous survey led by an international team of researchers assessed how satisfied hemophilia patients were with the app. Hemophilia patients in Central Europe who used standard half-life therapies or the newer extended half-life products were invited by their physicians to complete the survey, which was divided into two parts. The first part assessed patient satisfaction after a median of three to four weeks of use. Most of the 66 surveyed patients (89.4%) were very satisfied or rather satisfied with the app, and 97% reported it was easy or very easy to use.
After four months of using smartphone app
Here, researchers report the results of the survey’s second part, which assessed patient satisfaction after using the app for at least four months.
Of the 66 initial participants enrolled in the survey, 50 patients (75.8%) — 43 with hemophilia A and seven with hemophilia B — completed the second part. Fourteen patients used the app with a wearable device.
Most participants (92%) remained rather satisfied or very satisfied with the app. The ones who used it with a wearable device reported being very satisfied.
A total of 78% of the respondents said they were able to enter data from infusions in the past two weeks before they completed the second part. However, 22% said they skipped inserting data for at least one infusion. A trend for entering more data was seen among those who paired the app with a wearable device.
Seven patients taking preventive treatment said they’d had pain in the two weeks before completing part two of the survey and three (42.9%) reported using the app to enter their pain level. Also, 17 respondents indicated they’d had a bleeding episode during the study, and 14 of them (82.4%) said they entered the bleeding event into the app.
Consistent with the survey’s first part, 90% of participants used the app to monitor their clotting factor levels, but only 2% said they discussed their Florio Haemo data with their doctor.
The app was deemed very easy or rather easy to use by most participants (92%), especially those who used a wearable device. Similarly, 88% reported the app was very intuitive or rather intuitive to use. Most (82.4%) reported having no difficulty using it.
Among those who used a wearable device, most (85.7%) said the app was very or rather important in bringing certainty to their daily activities. More than a third of the participants (38.9%) who didn’t use the app with a wearable device said they’d prefer doing so in the future.
The findings indicate that even after using the app a long time, “users find the app platform readily accessible and user-friendly” and that it offers “an easy-to-use solution for people with hemophilia and/or their caregivers on prophylactic treatment,” the researchers wrote.
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