Under intense time pressure, a team of Faculty of Information students at the University of Toronto took on and won William Osler Health System’s (Osler) second annual National Student App Development Contest. The team developed Outpatient App, a mobile application that delivers hospital-specific and interactive discharge instructions to Osler’s Emergency Department patients.
At the app launch event on May 26th, Osler celebrated Master of Information students Victor (Li) Chen; Haley (Yanghuixxin) Liu; Jerry (Yingduo) Tang; Cory Blumenfeld, a Master’s student at IHPME in Health Service Research; as well as Zach Fisch, an MBA/JD student who got involved post-contest. The group was presented with their grand prize of $10,000 which they will all share.
From left to right: Matthew Anderson, President and CEO, William Osler Health System; Jerry Tang and Cory Blumenfield, iSchool students and members of winning team – Engage; Amber MacArthur, Tech Expert and Host of BNN’s App Central; Zach Fisch, member of winning team – Engage; Rich Smart, President, FieldPoint Service Applications Inc.; and Joanne Yeung, Digital Lead, William Osler Health System.
Student Haley Liu says it’s “an honour to share this great experience with my teammates. It’s a great experience to combine the health informatics and information system design together, there are lots of opportunity in this interdisciplinary field.”
The idea for the app came together, Haley says, after the team brainstormed to find a viable and efficient solution to the problem of sending out discharge instructions to patients. Traditionally, these instructions are delivered either on paper or through verbal instruction. While this might be traditional protocol for many hospitals, it is quite inefficient as information can be misinterpreted, forgotten, or misplaced.
Thus, Osler Outpatient takes the patient from “discharge to in charge” by allowing them to receive the instructions as intended. The process of developing the app involved Jerry and Victor as the main programmers of the team, while Cory and Haley were involved with collecting the discharge information.
The app features an auto-populated task list that includes the discharge instructions, and allows users the ability to modify this list by adding their own tasks, setting reminders, creating notes, and accessing other information relevant to their stay.
“While the technical skills for producing mobile apps are much sought after, the ultimate utility and effectiveness of software applications depend on a good understanding of usage settings and the human social context,” says Professor Eric Yu, who teaches Information Systems and Design at the UofT iSchool. “We are delighted that our students are able to bring their well-rounded education to bear in practical situations and are getting recognition.”
The team is working closely with Osler to refine the development of the app, which will be used at both Osler sites: Brampton Civic Hospital and Etobicoke General Hospital.
Future plans for the team involves developing a flawless mobile application for Osler that will help improve their hospital experience and overall quality of care they receive.
“Let me extend my congratulations to the team,” says Dean Seamus Ross. “Well done — you have made all of us at the UofT iSchool proud of your accomplishment.”
The prize money is donated by Fieldpoint.
For more information on the competition, please see http://kissmyapp.ca/
