Researchers at Research Triangle Park-based RTI International and Virginia Commonwealth University are working to develop a personal health record application for portable devices such as smart phones to help physicians and patients monitor daily routines of asthma patients.

As part of the two-year grant worth $480,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the RTI and VCU team will work to develop a personal health application, or app, for portable devices that would allow asthmatic patients to track lung function, medication use, levels and types of physical activity, activity limitations, air pollution, airborne allergens, smoking, and other quality-of-life measures.

The device will be given to between 30 and 50 patients so they can record their daily activities through patient self-reporting, mash-ups and the application’s biomonitors. Clinicians will be able to use a Web-based dashboard to view their patients’ data and communicate any changes in treatment or monitoring.

RTI was selected as one of five teams nationwide to participate in Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records, a national program testing how the use of health information technology can improve health care.