In the previous SSL newsletter, Alfonsina Candiello – Argentina Country Champion and leader of the Blueprint project – answered our questions about the arguments for producing a blueprint on “How to develop a STEMI network?” and the approach to achieve this.

Today, we have the pleasure to hear from Gabor G. Toth – Stent-Save a Life! Regional Champion for Europe – and Lukasz Koltowski – Adjunct Professor at the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland – who have taken co-responsibility for the technical outline and development of the STEMI App, a complementary digital tool to the Blueprint project – in partnership with the very knowledgeable and experienced organisation STEMI India.

S. Wallace: “Gabor, as one of the STEMI App project co-leaders, could you please explain the reasons behind the decision to develop an app?”

G. Toth: “The idea behind the project is to develop an app-based platform which will allow to collect the most crucial data about the treatment pathways of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarct in any geographical region around the world.
Not only this answers a need identified in some existing systems, but it will also aim at facilitating the care pathway of individual STEMI patients.”

S. Wallace: “Lukasz, could you please tell us whom this STEMI App is intended to and what benefits it will offer the users on a daily basis?”

L. Koltowski: “The end-users of this app will be the main stakeholders of the chest pain chain, namely the referring physician – who could be a General Practitioner or Cardiologist -, the emergency services/ambulance and the cathlab. The platform is meant to facilitate the communication (patient referral) between all of them.”

 

S. Wallace: “Gabor, could you please describe, in a nutshell, how the app is supposed to work? What variables would be collected and for which purpose?”

G. Toth: “The app intends to collect the most essential variables, describing the onset of symptoms, the patient risk profile, as well as the actual hemodynamic status. Further on, all the most relevant information about the performed procedure (i.e. thrombolysis or primary PCI, its success and outcome) will also be recorded.
Importantly, the purpose of the app is two-fold: first, the data will be immediately available for the different players of the STEMI care (GP, ambulance, peripheral and tertiary centre). This immediate and complete data transfer will facilitate and optimize the care pathway for the individual patients. Secondly, the data will also be collected in a prospective registry giving a clear picture on the healthcare system as well as its strengths and actual weaknesses.”

S. Wallace: “I guess the lead-time for such a project could be significant. Lukasz, could you take us through the various steps of the project?”

L. Koltowski: “The development of such an app normally requires a 6-8-month lead time. Once the app developer is selected – this is due to be one of the very next steps – the various stages of the projects would be to finalise the specifications (2 months), build up mock-ups (2 months), develop and code the system (3 months) before finally testing and optimising the app (1 month).”