New app gives patients a voice

People living with long-term health conditions often take multiple medicines. But the impact those medicines have on their quality of life can be difficult to explain during a brief consultation with a healthcare professional.

A new app developed by a team led by University of Auckland Senior Lecturer Dr Mohammed Mohammed aims to change that.

The MRB-QoL 2.0 app allows patients to record how their medicines affect their daily lives, including side effects, treatment routines, and impacts on physical, emotional and social well-being. The information can then be shared with healthcare professionals, helping patients communicate experiences that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Mohammed developed the app following years of research into how medicines affect people's quality of life.

"People are often asked whether they're taking their medicines, but the day-to-day impact of taking and managing their medicines is not routinely captured,” he says.

"I wanted to create something that gives patients a stronger voice and helps bring their experiences into shared decision-making about their treatment."

The app builds on a tool Mohammed developed during his PhD research in Sydney in 2018 to assess how medicines affect people's quality of life. Since then, it has been used in research and clinical settings in more than 15 countries and adapted into multiple languages.

The latest version was developed with feedback from patients, researchers and healthcare professionals and can be used on computers, tablets and smartphones."We have continued to learn from patients, healthcare professionals, researchers and international collaborators about how the MRB-QoL tool could be improved and made useful,” he says.

Patients complete a series of questions about their experience with medicines including side effects, concerns about medicines, difficulties managing them, communication with healthcare providers and impact on well-being.

Their responses are converted into summaries and visual dashboards that show how medicine-related burden affects different areas of life over time. The app allows patients to monitor those changes over time.

"In routine clinical practice, consultation time is often limited," he says.

"The app gives patients a structured way to capture their experiences between appointments and communicate them clearly, supporting more focused conversations and better-informed treatment decisions."

If users choose to save their data, the app stores their responses and presents them through dashboards.

"It helps patients see what has changed over time and gives clinicians information that can support conversations and decisions about treatment," he says.

Research guiding the development of the app found that a higher medication-related burden was strongly linked to poorer quality of life.

"Understanding how medicines affect everyday life can help guide decisions that reflect each person’s needs and circumstances."

The free app is being prepared for wider release and will initially be available through a web platform, with Android and iOS versions planned.

Mohammed says the initiative extends beyond data collection.

"We want to make sure patients' experiences with medicines can help shape care, research and decision-making."