Educational Mobile Application as a Tool- Enabling Caregivers at Home!

Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 09 January 2026

Tags: Community Health, Patient Education, Preventive Care, Population Health, Care Continuum, Technology, Digital Health, Digital Apps

About this Content

Aims

To evaluate the effectiveness and utilization of a mobile application designed to support caregivers of VAIs in Singapore.

Background

Home Ventilation and Respiratory Support Service (HVRSS) is the de facto adult chronic home ventilation service in Singapore which started in 2010. Prior to this, national guidelines or provision of care for Ventilator Assisted Individuals (VAIs) at home were non-existent.
Provision of care for VAIs can be demanding due to it being an altogether new territory. These caregivers may be hired or part of patients family and come from diverse educational backgrounds ,cultures and possess varying levels of learning ability. Without an existing framework or information resource locally, it was daunting for healthcare workers (HCWs) as locally we were devoid of a framework for both the care of VAI(s) within the system and neither was there the availability of resources on how to train caregivers.
Training for Caregivers of VAIs and Observations:
a) Training: Caregivers are required to complete a series of in-person training provided by the different groups of HCWs in the hospital which can take up to 2-3 months depending on their ability to retain and understand the training.
b) Teachers: Caregivers will receive training from HCWs where the information provided by the different group of trainers and their approach may inconsistent which may contribute to misunderstanding amongst the caregivers impacting the retention of knowledge.
c) Learning material: Primary resource provided were printed media with pictorial description (if any) obtained from various avenues. The actual learning was limited to hands on one on one sessions by the respective teams with return demonstrations.
d) Discharge: It was noticed that despite the completion of institutional training by HCWs, the HVRSS team had to arrange for additional home visits and teleconsultations besides regular reviews to reinforce the training thus increasing manpower hours.
 

Methods

A retrospective analysis of mobile application usage data from 2019-2023 was conducted. User feedback was collected through a 15-question survey in English. The application included instructional videos and care guidelines for VAIs.

Results

The application achieved 1,060 downloads across five countries (Singapore, Malaysia, China, Philippines, USA) with 18,000 views over 5 years.
Among 43 survey respondents:
81.4% preferred the application over other information sources
100% reported improved understanding of training
65% experienced smoother learning
65% agreed the content was comprehensive
100% would recommend the application to others

Conclusion

The HVRSS mobile application has:
demonstrated the ease of which mobile application allows patients, caregivers and interested HCWs to access, share and apply knowledge to aide their journey of caregiving.
topics relevant to their needs and cover most of the areas of care necessary for VAIs.
paved the journey to ensure caregivers are equipped with the necessary skills to ensure that the transition of care back home is smooth and less arduous than expected.
Most of them strongly agree that they would introduce the mobile application to others.
 
Moving forward, the expectation of use of applications for education will evolve. There needs to be increased audio visual function on the app for immersive and experiential training for the participant. It would also be crucial for us to include more local and regional languages in order to cater to different caregivers whose first language is not English.

Lessons Learnt

The mobile application support caregivers in navigating the steep learning curve associated with chronic ventilation care.
It also provides easily accessible, user -friendly , and just in time training resources for caregivers and healthcare professionals who are unfamilar with long ventilation management.

Additional Information

Selected for Best Poster category for Singapore Health and Biomedical Conference 2025

Keywords

home ventilation, caregiver mobile app

Innovators' Details

Connect with this contributor!

Lydia Soon - lydia.hy.soon@nhghealth.com.sg

Project Attachment

SHBC (BP-NR-05) Lydia .pdf