Modernising Asthma Management: Personalised Asthma Action Plans Using a Smartphone Application

Asthma is a chronic disease affecting one in nine Australians. With symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. Asthma can significantly impact a patient's quality of life. Asthma action plans are said to be one of the most effective asthma interventions available. However, in Australia only one in five people aged 15 and over, with asthma, have a written asthma action plan. Even less of which, refer to their plan. A review of related literature and work showed a gap regarding accessibility of information on asthma action plans in a written form. In an attempt to mitigate this problem, this paper focuses on the design and development of a smartphone application. The application is currently a high-fidelity prototype designed and built using proto.io.software. In addition to this conversion, the application incorporates aspects of the Internet of Things (IoT) whereby realtime data regarding environmental triggers such as temperature, humidity and pollen in surroundings, can be accessed from the application. The application ultimately aims to help asthmatics improve their health and quality of life by providing them, or their carer with the knowledge needed to better understand and manage their asthma, when and where they need it.