Bar-Ilan App can be Life-Saver in Allergy Emergencies
Many allergy patients, including children, neglect or forget to carry their medication with them at all times. This app can help.
Researchers have developed a smartphone application that can save the lives of highly allergic people during an emergency, using a patient-centric social network to enable delivery of emergency medication.
The app relies on fellow patients to help treat the medical emergency.
Millions of allergy sufferers are at high risk of going into anaphylactic shock that can cause death within minutes if they don’t take their epinephrine (Epipen), a pen-like auto-injector used to deliver life-saving medication.
Many allergy patients, including children, neglect or forget to carry their medication with them. In the case of sudden anaphylactic shock, these patients are completely dependent upon the arrival of emergency services and precious time is lost.
The new app was developed by Bar-Ilan University Prof. David G. Schwartz and doctoral students Michael Khalemsky and Michal Gaziel Yablowitz from the University’s School of Business Administration. Working together with Magen David Adom (MDA) and a team led by Dr. Eli Jaffe, the “EpiMada” app was recently launched and already has hundreds of registered users. Following the guidelines developed at Schwartz’s social intelligence lab, the app connects providers – who might be close enough to arrive significantly faster than an ambulance – with allergy patients.
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