In spring 2015, Apple is trying to revamp the medical field by providing a tool named Researchkit that can be used by anyone that needs to gather data from all types of surveys. The tool is open source and free to use in any mobile apps.
Many of these inputs used to require a lot of money and resources (hospital, equipment, nurses, etc…) and are now available free of charge. A great step in the right direction.
Use case example:
Let’s say you’re a medical doctor and would like to know the effect of drinking a glass of red wine daily for the next 5 years. You can now create an app that would notify patients owning an iPhone to go through a quick simple 20 second test.
Then, the patients’ data will be gathered up and data mined later on. It’s never been so easy for the doctor and for the patient, it’s never been so widespread, and now it can also be LIVE data!
Here are the type of tests (surveys) a patient can quickly complete:
– A simple question where the patient enters a value in a specific unit
For example: ow many cigarettes did you smoke today?
– A scale-based question (quantitative or discrete values)
Example: How much sugar have you taken with your coffees today (in grams)
– A simple survey form, the standard “fill in your answers”
– A feedback form using a question with one multiple choices. Only one answer can be selected (pre-filled answers)
ex: What type of juice do you drink (i.e Cranberry, Orange, Apple, etc…)
– Audio active survey:
The patient’s voice can be recorded, sampled then analyzed
– Fitness task feedback:
Great for checking heart rate, You can ask a patient to perform a specific exercise for a specific number of seconds.
– Gait and Balance survey
Get to record a patient’s physical behavior while walking for a specific amount of time.
– A classic Image choice question:
The patient chooses which image applies to him or her.
Example: Check your patient pupil size and tell which image is the closest to yours.
– Spatial span Memory survey question:
Ex: After taking a certain dose of medication for an Alzheimer patient, check if his or her memory has improved or not.
– Two finger tapping interval survey input:
Ex: Check the patient’s accuracy, dexterity and speed after taking a certain pill.
– A standard “free form” feedback form.
– Time based survey question:
ex: How long did it take for the migraine to go away once you took 2 pills of “Aleve”
Note: This is just a quick intro to what all the researchKit and HealthKit combined can do. If you’d like to know more feel free to contact us at info[at] appsfresh.com