6 February 2015

App Review - Carezone

I am going to start my app review with an app called Carezone. I can't even remember how I came across Carezone, it wasn't an app or type of app I was specifically looking for but some of the things I specifically find difficult are regarding the management of my health, remembering to take medication and generally knowing where to find information. I had got to this point where information around my health was stored in all these various places - electronic files, filing cabinets, admin trays and keeping track of all the different professionals and people involved and also determining who could help me with different aspects of managing my care was really stressful. So when I came across Carezone I thought it was worth investigating.

Carezone is free to sign up for and is designed to enable you manage the different aspects of caring for someone. You can manage multiple profiles so while it has its merits for myself, for a parent of children with additional needs it could be really useful particularly because it also enables you to share Carezone profiles which then makes it easier to co-ordinate care. You can use it on your desktop computer, tablet and smartphone and all information syncs together. 

So why do I think Carezone is useful, what does it actually do? 
How you make use of the features of Carezone is up to you but here is a run through of what I use each feature for and what the potential for use could be:
  • Profiles / Carezone - for each person you care for you can create a profile or carezone which keeps information about their care needs (detailed below). These can be shared with whomever you choose on an individual basis and you can also restrict specific information for privacy if necessary. So I have a profile for myself and I also set one up for my dog to keep all his information together and so far I have shared both of these profiles with my husband so he can see what is going on without me having to tell him. In the future I can share my profile with friends or family as necessary and also with support workers - depending on whether they chose to use this app. 
  • Journals - each Carezone has its own journals and I have found this really useful. Having just started ADHD medication and having difficulty with sleep I have set myself a reminder with a question about how my concentration has been and how my sleep has been. By being prompted to record this information it means when I see the specialist I am able to give a better account of how well it has been going since last time. I also update my journal with information about appointments I have had which helps me to process what happened, it also tells my husband what happened if he didn't go with me so he doesn't have to ask he gets an email notifying him I have updated my journal. He finds this really useful as I really struggle to remember to or actually communicate things to him. He is also able to enter a journal entry about any behaviour or event he is worried about and he can make comments on my journal entries. So for parents this could be good to update how their child has been with the other parent or a carer to add input or their observations. And then a record is being created of events which can be helpful in identifying triggers or patterns to behaviour. If a carer has access to the Carezone they can provide updates on behaviour etc or school updates can be copy and pasted into journals to keep all that information on behavioural patterns and challenges in one place, easily accessible and evidence to pass onto medical professionals. Updates can also be privately shared with specific people on a post by post basis.
  • Contacts - this is straightforward, this is a list of relevant contacts for that person's care. You can import these from your phone contacts or add them in manually. This is useful for me because I struggle to contact health professionals so I have to ask someone else to do this for me. This means I am forever, even to my husband, having to find the telephone number or address to pass on. Now they are all in one place and better still my husband doesn't need to ask, he can go into the profile and find the information himself - this means one less task for me and that makes a difference. For a parent it can be useful depending on how organised you manage to be, how often do you need to contact someone and then spend ages trying to find out the telephone number or details - to have it all in one place with nothing else to scroll through is certainly an advantage.
  • Medications - the medications feature is great and the more medication that needs to be managed the more useful it is. Carezone helps you to keep an up to date list of the medication you need to take and how often. Medications can be input manually or you can take photos of the label and it will take the information from here. Once you have input your medication and how regularly you need to take it Carezone creates a schedule. You can set reminders to take medication and also reminders to request and collect repeat prescriptions. You can make note of who prescribed the medication and where you get it from and you can also keep log of medications that you no longer take. The schedule enables you to record which medication you take, this is useful for showing missed doses and also how often you have needed to take PRN medication. You could combine this with a journal entry explaining why you took PRN medication to help build a story to feedback to your doctor. But what else this section does is enable you to print off or share medication lists with various levels of detail and medical information cards stating what medication you take in case of emergency. These lists could be shared if your child or the person you care for is staying with a relative or on a residential trip and again could help to save you time writing out and filling in information.
  • Calendar - each Carezone profile has its own calendar. This can be added as a calendar onto your device or shared with someone via email. All medical appointments can be added onto this calendar and alerts can be programmed. I don't use this calendar to remind me of appointments or events and I don't use the alerts because I use the calendar on my iPhone. But the Carezone calendar has an important use for my care. I need to be accompanied to medical appointments because I struggle to communicate and understand without support. Carezone lets you assign a calendar event to someone or select that you need a volunteer. So how I use this is that I input appointments I need help with and I assign someone, for example if I know my husband can take me I assign him and he gets an email telling him he has been assigned an event and he gets a reminder. If he can't go with me I select "needs a volunteer" and then all those I have shared my Carezone with get an email telling them I need help and giving details of the appointment and this email will be sent daily until someone is assigned. So currently it reminds my husband he needs to help me work out how these appointments will be managed. Appointments are stressful for me to organise. Carezone also automatically inputs onto the calendar when repeat prescriptions are needed with an alert.
  • To-Dos - this to-do list is very simplistic. It doesn't enable deadlines but similar to the calendar above it allows you to assign to someone or request a volunteer. I currently use it to assign to my husband the things I need him to do on my behalf for my care, things like contacting health professionals. This helps me because I don't have to wait until I see him or to hassle him with messages, I can add it onto the list and assign it to him and he then gets emails. He said this works better for him because he can check it later and add it onto his own to do list and plan it in. Also if I need help with a task I can select "needs a volunteer" which means the email goes out telling those who have access to my Carezone I need help. This would give a good overview of what needs to be done to parents sharing care of their child or anyone caring for another family member.
  • Notes - this is just straightforward, any notes on any information such as instructions on dealing with specific behaviours, references to anything you need to remember such as insurance numbers or anything else. On my dog's profile I have a note with his microchip number in and things like that. These notes can be made private or shared only with specific people.
  • Photos & Files - you can upload photos and files about the person being cared for. I have uploaded my diagnostic assessment reports, I have a letter from my GP regarding my difficulties in airports, files with plans about what to do in emergencies and letters about my care. These photos and files can be made private or shared only with specific people. From a perspective of if at some stage I shared access to my Carezone with a support worker this could be helpful in terms of reference for them if something went wrong being able to access my plans and information files on the go.
Carezone also gives you articles and news on subjects you highlight as an interest ie specific medical conditions. You can set the app to be protected by a passcode and set how you wish to receive notifications. I use Dropbox for files and also Evernote for jotting down thoughts and ideas etc and Carezone is like a more streamlined and medical equivalent to these applications but with additional, useful features specific to co-ordinating and managing the care of someone else. So far I have found it really useful and it gives me a sense of control and order surrounding managing all the appointments I have been having. My husband has also found it useful in keeping up to date with what has been happening and how situations have been changing - he has a much better idea about how I am feeling or coping on a day to day basis. 

From my perspective as an adult who has diagnoses of Asperger's and ADHD and needs support to manage medication and health it has been very useful in making sure I am getting the support and communicating the support from and to those who are there to support. So it is useful to adults in similar situations as myself, however I feel that for parents or caregivers of children or of adults who need their care managed for them this app could be of even greater use and benefit if utilised fully. I would advise if you were to use this app that adequate time was spent on setting it up with information and ensuring all those who are involved in providing care were on board and understanding of how it works to ensure maximum benefit.

For more information on Carezone, click here or search in App Store or on android.

Click here for more information on my App Review blogs.

5 February 2015

App Review

Diagnosis with ADHD last year gave me an explanation as to why even with the knowledge of my Asperger's diagnosis I had been unsuccessful in establishing structures and strategies that enabled me to function fully and get things done. Contrary to popular belief (it seems) many people who have a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD or autism spectrum condition do actually want to be as independent as they can be and do as much as they can to "help themselves" - I am one of those people and it just wasn't working for me and I couldn't work out why.

I am a highly intelligent person but I do struggle significantly with some simple and fundamental activities many take for granted and my writing style gives false impression that such things could not possibly be a challenge for me - things like communication, understanding and adapting to change. I can see the kind of things I need in order to increase my independence but to implement these alone is a cause of great frustration as it just fails for reasons I don't fully understand no matter how hard I "try". 

After the ADHD diagnosis I had a renewed sense of knowing I needed something in place that kept me organised, reminded me of my daily responsibilities and as far as possible aided me in carrying these things out. One of the most useful tools I have is my iPad and iPhone - to me these are not luxury items, they are necessary. Paper organisation systems become overwhelming and get lost. Everything in one place, accessible at any time - out of my head is such an attractive proposition and if you spent any time inside my head you would totally get why.

So I set about finding apps and tools I felt would be able to help me manage some of the areas I face challenges in to free up my mind to be able to learn and concentrate on skills that were missing. To me this was a logical approach and in the absence of support and guidance from professionals it has been all I have had to go with. I have plans for a whole app based system to help with some of my challenges - this is not fully set up yet so there will be lots to work out to make sure it works as best it can although I know too that this system on its own is only going to be a foundation as on its own it will not be the answer or solution to all the difficulties and challenges I face. 

In the next few blog posts I am intending to cover various different applications I have discovered that may be useful to people who have a diagnosis of autism or ADHD or both and their families. Each app or part of the system I have devised will have its own post and I will update this blog with a content list and link to the blog. I am always on the look out for any apps which may be helpful so please feel free to suggest any in comments. Take from this what you can, different things work for different people and I'm just sharing what I have found in the hope it might help someone else.

Blog Post 1 - Carezone - co-ordinate and manage the health and care of yourself and your family