Health NFP Launches App for Meds Management
29 July 2014 at 11:05 am
A new Not for Profit smartphone app has been launched to help Australians to better manage their heart medications.
The National Heart Foundation of Australia has launched its free My Heart, My Life app to help people keep track of and remember to take their medicines. It also provides health statistics, including heart attack warning signs and healthy recipes.
Heart Foundation’s National Director of Cardiovascular Health, Dr Rob Grenfell, said the app would help patients manage their medication routine, increase their understanding of their condition and ultimately improve their health.
“We also know the app will assist GPs, pharmacists and primary care nurses to help their patients adhere to medicine and lifestyle changes,” Dr Grenfell said.
“Around 3.7 million Australians are living with cardiovascular disease – the number one killer of men and women, with a large number prescribed medications.
“We know the more medications people are taking, the more difficult it is to remember to take them.
“Within the app people can search a medicines database for medicines they are taking, which lists the dose and frequency for each medicine and it sets reminders to help people to take them.”
A Heart Foundation survey showed 5.5 per cent of people are prescribed blood pressure medicines and 16 per cent of people taking cholesterol medicines were not taking them regularly.
“This equates to around 600,000 people just for cholesterol and blood pressure medicines alone,” Dr Grenfell said.
“Even more alarming is the fact we know approximately half of patients prescribed a cholesterol lowering drug, commonly known as a statin, will stop taking them within six months of starting their medicines.”
To download the app, click here.
