The Catherine McEwan Foundation together with the Yorkhill IBD team and Solus UK have worked together to produce an app designed to help healthcare teams across the world looking after children with Crohn’s disease.
When a child with Crohn’s disease becomes unwell it is helpful to assess how severely the Crohn’s disease is “flaring” at the time. By using a standard set of 8 questions and blood tests doctors and nurses can generate a score between 0 and 125 as a guide to the need for further treatments and tests. The score is easy to use but is not easily accessible when needed by teams, especially in the emergency situation. This has changed with the development of the app allowing easy calculation of the score using a phone or similar device.
The original work from which the app was produced from was overseen by Professor Dan Turner from Jerusalem. He met with Derek McEwan and Dr Richard Russell (on behalf of the Yorkhill IBD team) to officially launch the app during his recent visit to Glasgow.
He was quoted as saying the app will be useful for clinical teams looking after children with Crohn’s disease all over the world. The app is now being used in the new children’s hospital and in hospitals throughout the west of Scotland.
The team are planning another project in the new year.