Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to Preview Mobile 'Ebola PPE Training' App at HIMSS15

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon launch a free smartphone application powered by mobile health platform 22otters that provides intuitive coaching to clinicians on CDC's guidelines for proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent transmission of Ebola. Via a formal agreement between CDC and 22otters, CDC will make this content available in the coming weeks. 22otters will preview the app that will be available at the iTunes and Google Play stores for the first time at HIMSS15 in the Nuance Communication Booth #1831 in the South Hall on Tuesday afternoon, April 14^th, and will also be expanding a list of potential Beta testers. CDC will promote the availability of the free app through its various communication channels.

CDC's PPE app, powered by 22otters' innovative, speech-enabled and animated, step-by-step mobile coaching technology, will allow healthcare workers to access easy-to-follow directions for putting on (donning) and removing (doffing) PPE and a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) to ensure that they are following the latest CDC guidelines to prevent transmission of Ebola (for an example of the app's coaching visit http://www.22otters.com/video/ppevid.mp4). Following the initial Ebola app release, 22otters will release a variant of the app allowing training progress tracking and content modules customized for providers.

The recent transmission of Ebola to nurses underscores the need to ensure that all healthcare workers have immediate access to these guidelines. Just wearing protective gear, which consists of a gown, mask, gloves, face shield and booties, may not be enough. Contamination can occur if a healthcare worker does not don or doff these items safely. Even when hospitals offer ongoing training, it can be difficult to remember all the details when confronted with a patient who might have a life-threatening infectious disease. The CDC app powered by 22otters is designed to provide needed just-in-time (JIT) training that can be reviewed in just a few minutes.

"This app allows healthcare workers to receive real-time CDC training on personal protective equipment right from their mobile devices," says Abbigail Tumpey, associate director for communications science for CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. "The Ebola outbreak has highlighted the need to increase training in infection control, including proper use of personal protective equipment, to ensure all healthcare workers are safe while providing care."

Starting in May, training leaders at hospitals can also use the 22otters version of this app to encourage and monitor staff training by registering to see progress on a free dashboard.  This version also includes a comprehension quiz to facilitate monitoring the training status for priority personnel, and the ability to push refreshers to mobile devices at specified times and frequency or provide customized content such as proper specimen handling or hospital discharge preparation.

"We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with the CDC, healthcare workers and hospitals to help improve the safety of healthcare workers who may suddenly need to treat a patient who could have Ebola," said 22otters CEO Bob Quinn. "Since 90 percent of all healthcare providers use a smartphone, they can now be empowered to access protective equipment guidelines and review them as often as they like at their convenience as well as at the point of care."

Quinn continued, "This also solves the ongoing challenge for hospitals that want to ensure their staff are trained on the most up-to-date guidelines, and can easily extend and document that even agency nurses and floaters have completed appropriate training."

22otters also utilizes this technology in the company's leading-edge patient engagement platform, which is being used in a wide range of apps to help patients with procedure prep and discharge as well as ongoing chronic care.

Tweet This: Free #app for @CDCgov powered by @22otters_ protects clinicians against #Ebola. Launches at #HIMSS15 booth 1831.

About 22otters
22otters is a mobile patient engagement platform from Gamgee, a producer of leading-edge mHealth technology. The company's platform is being used at major providers to quickly build and deliver the right interactive training modules for the right people, at the right time, in the right language, delivered via the right channel such as app, text messaging or interactive voice response (IVR). For more information, contact [email protected] or call 650.376.3390.

Media Contact:
Jan Shulman
Amendola Communications for 22otters
[email protected] 
480-664-8412 x12

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SOURCE 22otters

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