Main Line Health System, Wynnewood, PA
Linking Patients to Community Resources Via a Smartphone App

Background: Medical student advocates (MSAs) have located and vetted more than 600 community resources for vulnerable patient populations and listed them on a Wikipedia page. Residents were disconnected from these efforts and found it challenging to efficiently provide resource information at the bedside. The Main Line Heath (MLH) System Strategic Plan stresses the importance of improving the health of the community and to “seek, identify and ameliorate disparities in care.” Our aim was to provide a smartphone app to residents to facilitate referrals of patients to community services at the bedside and thereby address the strategic plan mandate.

Methods: Residents and MSAs attended a GME-sponsored dinner to learn about patient and provider needs and the resources identified on the MSA Wikipedia page. Categories include food, transportation, utilities, child care, job training, education, and legal services. Residents were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire to assess their knowledge and opinions about linking patients to community resources and to upload a link to the Wikipedia page to their smartphones. GME collaborated with the Texas A&M School for Public Health to enlist MLH as a sponsor for the MyHealthFinder app.

Results: Of the residents who participated in the survey, 55% said that they always/often discuss nonclinical needs with their patients, while 34% said that they occasionally do, 9% said seldom, and 2% said never. When asked what the resident’s role should be in addressing nonclinical needs, 77% said that they should be involved, 14% said that they should not be involved, and 9% acknowledged time as a barrier to involvement. Residents in internal medicine and family medicine recognize and affirm their desire to play a role in properly and efficiently linking their patients with appropriate community resources. Residents also want to track whether resources are utilized.

Conclusion: Supplying a smartphone app to search for community resources at the bedside was received enthusiastically by residents and energized the MSAs’ efforts to vet resources.