Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) and University of British Columbia have developed a mobile app called RRate which accurately measures one’s respiratory rate in an average of 9.9 seconds compared to the traditional method of counting a patient’s breath for 60 seconds using a stopwatch or like Indian doctors at a roadside clinic do usually.
The technology will allow doctors to diagnose children with pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses more effectively. RRate is six times faster than the regular method. RRate requires is that the user taps the screen each time the child inhales.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) the common lung infection is the leading cause of death of children worldwide, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome which is internationally present can be easily caught with this technology.
The CFRI and UBC researchers now hope to combine this app with the Phone Oximeter – an app and medical sensor that provides non-invasive measurements of blood oxygen levels with only a light that attaches to a patient’s finger and a mobile phone, according to another CFRI news release. This is expected to further expedite the diagnosis process, which would revolutionize the way children are medically examined.
–Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â By Anand Thakkar
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