PCH app puts knowledge at parents’ fingertips

For years, Phoenix Children’s Hospital has been providing hard copy handout of a teaching tool called Our Journey in the Hospital.

Now, there’s an app for that.

Nurse and health education specialist Fran London said the app shows parents all the things they need to know before their child returns home.

“What problems might develop at home, how to recognize those problems and then how to respond to them, how to comfort the child, sometimes it’s an emotional comfort and sometimes it’s physical,” she said.

London said the app encourages the family to talk to the healthcare team and offers sample topics they might want to discuss, “so that by the time they leave the hospital or the office visit they feel comfortable taking care of their child.”

The app helps parents better handle the child’s illness by having parents not only learn the information, but it also asks parents to “teach” the information back to the health care provider so they know that parents have a thorough understanding or that the provider needs to offer a better explanation.

The Our Journey in the Hospital app is available at no cost for iPads. In February, it will be available for iPhones and Androids.