The University of Florida Informatics Institute and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) have awarded pilot program funding to University of Florida researchers.

CTSI provides intramural awards to support the growth of interdisciplinary and investigator-initiated clinical and translational research across UF’s broad range of scientific disciplines.

Dr. Parisa Rashidi, BME assistant professor, is the coordinating Principal Investigator in the multidisciplinary pilot project for precision public health.

In recent years, patients have increasingly been using mobile health (mHealth) applications for monitoring their health conditions. While existing sensors and devices generate useful information for the patients, currently such information is not shared with the healthcare providers, thus preventing timely monitoring and interventions procedures.

With this funding, Rashidi will develop a pilot prototype to integrate patient-generated data from a smartwatch with electronic health record (EHR) data and to create the interface for practitioners to use this information for patient care. The team will utilize an existing smartwatch platform for capturing Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) within daily life, as well as for automatically capturing real-time activity and mobility information from embedded sensors. The smartwatch is programmed to automatically prompt the participant at predefined intervals to collect patient-reported outcomes.

The use of digital ecological momentary assessment (EMA) tools can be especially important for enhancing the accuracy of assessments in older adults, who are more likely than younger adults to experience memory lapses. While smartphones are increasingly becoming popular as convenient digital EMA tools for real-time assessments, 70% of the older adults still do not own a smartphone and do not have the basic knowledge and skills for effectively using a smartphone. In contrast, a smartwatch is less expensive, highly portable, and highly discrete due to its sleek design resembling a regular watch. These factors ensure high compliance.

The expected outcome of this research is a new framework for integrating patient-generated data from a smartwatch with a major EHR system. The long-term objective is to develop and validate technology to collect real-time patient-generated data in a scalable manner for monitoring treatment plans and planning future interventions to reduce patient complaints about pain, depression and fatigue.

Co-PIs:
•    Dr. Todd M. Manini, associate professor, Department of Aging & Geriatric Research, College of Medicine, University of Florida
•    Dr. Franḉois Modave, associate professor, Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, University of Florida
•    Dr. Jordan M. Alpert, assistant professor, Department of Advertising, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida
•    Dr. Laurence Solberg, Chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Aging & Geriatric Research, University of Florida
•    Dr. Sanjay Ranka, professor, Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering, University of Florida
Mentors:
•    Dr. Mingzhou Ding, Distinguished Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida
•    Dr. Carma L. Bylund, associate professor, Department of Public Relations, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida