One of the major goals of the Mobile Technology Lab within the ICTS is to build and support tools to help investigators collect data from a wide range of subjects for a broad range of diseases using mobile devices.
What we do
The Mobile Technology Lab provides and supports a robust, flexible and easily deployed data-collection platform. Our platform allows investigators to obtain pilot data that can be used as evidence to justify external funding.
Our easily modified platform can be customized to support particular needs of different surgery-based investigations, such as, for example, engaging a research subject in an interactive text dialogue subject to a “data gathering Rx” established by the investigator.
Once external funding is available, our platform can be scaled to support population-based multi-center investigations. In short, we believe our technology can help UI investigators write more competitive proposals.
Objectives
The Mobile Technology Lab team’s overarching objective is to support existing ICTS missions by providing easy to use, efficient, inexpensive, and scalable approaches for remotely collecting data from research subjects outside healthcare facilities.
Our software will be easily customized for different projects to support diverse research interests. Specifically, we will maintain a platform capable of:
- Sending text messages to solicit responses from subjects via SMS
- Sending and receiving images, video and audio files to and from subjects via MMS
In addition, our bidirectional texting platform is capable of requesting and receiving text messages from subjects using data retrieved from the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors designed to collect health-related data (e.g., Fitbits, indoor pollution sensors, etc.).
To date, a pilot version of this platform has been used to track home blood pressure measurements, monitor the images of diabetic feet, track post-operative physical activity after orthopedic surgery and to help guide patient removal of sutures after carpal tunnel surgery.
Examples of possible projects
Asking about the presence or absence of symptoms after starting a new therapy or after a surgical procedure (e.g., levels of post-operative pain over time)
- Asking for specific health measurements that patients can take in their own home (e.g., temperature)
- Sending automated reminders to perform specific tasks at specific times (e.g., physical therapy exercises)
- Prompting for images of surgical sites after discharge
- Using video reminders for physical therapy that show how to do the exercise properly
- Prompting parents to record video and audio of seizures/spells, physical activities of children in their home environment
Contact Information
Shelby Francis, PhD
- Email: shelby-francis@uiowa.edu
- Phone: 319-678-8037