%0 Journal Article
%@ 2369-2960
%I JMIR Publications
%V 6
%N 3
%P e21653
%T Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker): Description and Pilot Study of a Mobile App to Track COVID-19 in Hospital Workers
%A Soriano,Joan B
%A Fernández,Esteve
%A de Astorza,Álvaro
%A Pérez de Llano,Luis A
%A Fernández-Villar,Alberto
%A Carnicer-Pont,Dolors
%A Alcázar-Navarrete,Bernardino
%A García,Arturo
%A Morales,Aurelio
%A Lobo,María
%A Maroto,Marcos
%A Ferreras,Eloy
%A Soriano,Cecilia
%A Del Rio-Bermudez,Carlos
%A Vega-Piris,Lorena
%A Basagaña,Xavier
%A Muncunill,Josep
%A Cosio,Borja G
%A Lumbreras,Sara
%A Catalina,Carlos
%A Alzaga,José María
%A Gómez Quilón,David
%A Valdivia,Carlos Alberto
%A de Lara,Celia
%A Ancochea,Julio
%+ Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Planta 6, Servicio de Neumología, Diego de León 62, Madrid, 28006, Spain, +34 915202200, jbsoriano2@gmail.com
%K app
%K COVID-19
%K coronavirus
%K e-medicine
%K monitoring
%K symptoms
%K surveillance
%D 2020
%7 21.9.2020
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Public Health Surveill
%G English
%X Background: Hospital workers have been the most frequently and severely affected professional group during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have a big impact on transmission. In this context, innovative tools are required to measure the symptoms compatible with COVID-19, the spread of infection, and testing capabilities within hospitals in real time. Objective: We aimed to develop and test an effective and user-friendly tool to identify and track symptoms compatible with COVID-19 in hospital workers. Methods: We developed and pilot tested Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker), a newly designed app to track the spread of COVID-19 among hospital workers. Hospital staff in 9 hospital centers across 5 Spanish regions (Andalusia, Balearics, Catalonia, Galicia, and Madrid) were invited to download the app on their phones and to register their daily body temperature, COVID-19–compatible symptoms, and general health score, as well as any polymerase chain reaction and serological test results. Results: A total of 477 hospital staff participated in the study between April 8 and June 2, 2020. Of note, both health-related (n=329) and non–health-related (n=148) professionals participated in the study; over two-thirds of participants (68.8%) were health workers (43.4% physicians and 25.4% nurses), while the proportion of non–health-related workers by center ranged from 40% to 85%. Most participants were female (n=323, 67.5%), with a mean age of 45.4 years (SD 10.6). Regarding smoking habits, 13.0% and 34.2% of participants were current or former smokers, respectively. The daily reporting of symptoms was highly variable across participating hospitals; although we observed a decline in adherence after an initial participation peak in some hospitals, other sites were characterized by low participation rates throughout the study period. Conclusions: HEpiTracker is an already available tool to monitor COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in hospital workers. This tool has already been tested in real conditions. HEpiTracker is available in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. It has the potential to become a customized asset to be used in future COVID-19 pandemic waves and other environments. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04326400; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04326400 
%M 32845852
%R 10.2196/21653
%U http://publichealth.jmir.org/2020/3/e21653/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/21653
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32845852