TY  - JOUR
AU  - Soriano, Joan B
AU  - Fernández, Esteve
AU  - de Astorza, Álvaro
AU  - Pérez de Llano, Luis A
AU  - Fernández-Villar, Alberto
AU  - Carnicer-Pont, Dolors
AU  - Alcázar-Navarrete, Bernardino
AU  - García, Arturo
AU  - Morales, Aurelio
AU  - Lobo, María
AU  - Maroto, Marcos
AU  - Ferreras, Eloy
AU  - Soriano, Cecilia
AU  - Del Rio-Bermudez, Carlos
AU  - Vega-Piris, Lorena
AU  - Basagaña, Xavier
AU  - Muncunill, Josep
AU  - Cosio, Borja G
AU  - Lumbreras, Sara
AU  - Catalina, Carlos
AU  - Alzaga, José María
AU  - Gómez Quilón, David
AU  - Valdivia, Carlos Alberto
AU  - de Lara, Celia
AU  - Ancochea, Julio
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/9/21
TI  - Hospital Epidemics Tracker (HEpiTracker): Description and Pilot Study of a Mobile App to Track COVID-19 in Hospital Workers
JO  - JMIR Public Health Surveill
SP  - e21653
VL  - 6
IS  - 3
KW  - app
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - coronavirus
KW  - e-medicine
KW  - monitoring
KW  - symptoms
KW  - surveillance
AB  - 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 
SN  - 2369-2960
UR  - http://publichealth.jmir.org/2020/3/e21653/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/21653
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32845852
DO  - 10.2196/21653
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/21653
ER  -