AppSens
Designing and developing a mobile application with heart-sensor recorded data for health-care professionals to quickly review
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Health-tech |
iOS & Android |
Discovery Project |
IoT healthcare case study: Saving lives with the Internet of Things (IoT)
One in four middle-aged (45-65 years) people may develop atrial fibrillation (AFib/AF). AF is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other as heart-related complications. It is a major cause of stroke.
People in the target group can now use the AppSens heart sensor and mobile app to record ECG data and share their vitals to a specialist for review.
Technology used
The challenge
AppSens came to Apphuset in order to build and deploy a solution ready for clinical trial and later commercialization.
Seven Peaks Software is an international partner of Apphuset – this IoT healthcare case study showcases a project that Apphuset acquired to then outsource the development to us at Seven Peaks Software to cooperatively complete the project as a specialist partner.
The main challenges we identified were to provide a simple and intuitive onboarding and app design tailored for the target group and technically to secure system communications using the FHIR standard for health care data exchange and ECG decoding and interoperability using the ISO 22077 standard.
The solution
The solutions consists of these three parts:
- Native Android and iOS apps to help patients seamlessly pair with the heart sensors and record their ECG data
- Website where specialists can log in and inspect the patient data
- Application middle layer to handle the communication between the Smile server (HL7 FHIR-Based Clinical Data Repository). FHIR is a standard from HL7. This is a standard for health care data exchange.
Doctor web portal
Apphuset and Seven Peaks Software also helped AppSens develop a unique web portal for doctors with patient record access and customized report segments for analysis and sharing.
Multitude of data
- Easy registration and authentication using Firebase (Phone number and OTP)
- Seamless step-by-step device pairing and onboarding experience
- Storing Mfer and RR record files from the sensor on the device
- Transformation and preparation for transmission from the app to the back-end service
- Advanced graphing and playback of ECG data on the website
Continuous development on flexible platforms
With groundbreaking technology at its core, the user interface of a native mobile app is necessary to achieve the communication that is desired.
Flexibility in alerts, response time and design were crucial to the desired corresponding customer journey. The app communicates sensitive data, so security is key.
With estimates ranging as high as 75 billion IoT devices worldwide in 2025, AppSens are looking forward to bringing a multitude of data points to life in the application layer.
Tools for general practitioners
When the test is completed, the user is presented with the results in the app. You can then choose to forward the result to your own GP. The GP has, with the consent of the person, access to data available and the result of the test.
In addition it creates a visual result that is understandable for the patient. The more advanced data will be displayed for the specialist. This gives the specialist a better idea of the situation and possible treatment of the patient. Also, the communication will be easier.
The GP receives a report that shows deviations from potential dangers and diseases. It would be possible to forward the reports to specialists in various departments to check on other health issues, of course only with the consent of the patient.
New IoT technology is saving lives
With new revolutionary technology in the health sector there arises a need for smart design for the intended target group.
It is estimated that approximately 150,000 Norwegians live with heart fibrillation today, and that a third do not know about it themselves. Every day, eight Norwegians get a stroke as a result of heart fibrillation.
The fact that the heartbeat is not always regular means that it can be difficult to detect for healthcare professionals who often make measurements that do not last longer than a few minutes.
The app has developed a wireless sensor that monitors the heart rate for one to two weeks. The app, sensor and backend perform real-time analysis of the collected data and give the user immediate feedback on their health situation.
Apphuset’s task was to design and develop a mobile application that connects to the sensors and collects data that is forwarded to the backend for the person’s health data.
The target group for ECG 247 is primarily people that are older than 60 years and therefore it was necessary to ease the use and communication to end users that are super important features to the solution.
AppSens’ EGC 247 sensor and app has detected severe cardiac arrhythmia on test persons, who were then immediately admitted to PSI centers for treatment of blockage.
The EGC 247 has helped prevent heart attacks and has also revealed cardiac fibrillation on several test subjects who have been unaware of their arrhythmia.
AppSens is striving to continuously save more lives!
About AppSens
Appsens is a medical technology company established in 2017. The company is headquartered in Lillesand and works closely with national health trusts and universities on the development of advanced medical equipment.
Industry: Healthcare & Health-tech
Project: AppSens mobile app
Client: AppSens
Working model: Discovery project
