2024 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 181-189
【Background】 A patient smartphone application (hereafter referred to as “the app”) is implemented for kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) at Mie University Hospital. The app features include notifications, medication records, and health records. This study aimed to analyze the use of these app features and identify methods that can improve adherence among KTRs.
【Methods】 The participants were 100 KTRs who consented to participate in the study out of the 135 who used the app at our hospital between April 2022 and December 2022. The survey items included a questionnaire on app usage, feature-specific app usage rates, and usage rates by the period from transplantation to app introduction.
【Results】 According to the questionnaire on app usage, the helpful app features were notifications (84.2%), medication records (63.2%), and health records (24.6%). The percentages of KTRs with >50% usage rates for these features were 92.0%, 58.7%, and 28.8% for read notifications, medication record entries, and health record entries, respectively. The rates of reading notifications, medication record entries, and health record entries were significantly lower in patients who had the app introduced >5 years, 5-10 years, and >2 years post-transplantation, respectively.
【Conclusions】 To promote self-management using the app, it should be introduced during the early post-transplant period since motivation is high, as it may contribute to the maintenance and improvement of adherence.
