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Digital health: tracking your kids’ health information online

Digital health: tracking your kids’ health information online

We already keep track of our busy schedules, holiday shopping and fitness routines online.

And while some of us are starting to use technology to monitor our own health, parents are being encouraged to start tracking their children’s health digitally, too, to make their records more easily accessible — and so that the kids can more easily access their records themselves when they’re older.

“It is already busy enough raising a child, so having quick and easy access to health information in a digital format can be very helpful for parents,” Dr. Sheila Wijayasinghe, medical director at the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre and family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, writes in an e-mail to Yahoo Canada.

“Tracking growth parameters such as height and weight can be quickly input into an app or electronic graph as well as the electronic medical record in your doctor’s office. These methods allow for us to graphically produce information to get an accurate picture of how growth is progressing. Storing information like vaccination records are also an excellent use of digital resources which helps later on when kids start school or go to camp. Using digital options helps parents to save time and consolidate health information, but more importantly allows them to have a wealth of information related to their kid’s health at the click of a button.”

Want electronic health records? Just ask

Dr. Wijayasinghe recommends that if access to electronic health records are important to you and your family, bring it up when interviewing family doctors — as not all doctors use them.

“Some clinics do allow access digitally and will book appointments online or will do electronic visits via e-mail which can save time and is convenient for parents,” she explains. “Some clinics may have electronic medical records but not do online booking or emailing. Every clinic is different, so choose a doctor that you can trust and develop a relationship with in person, and if online access is important to you, ask about your options.”

Start early

Parents-to-be, you’re in luck! The easiest way to track a child’s health information digitally is to do so from infancy.

“I encourage parents to start using digital health tools to manage their children’s health, starting soon after birth,” Dr. Wijayasinghe says. “When a child is born, the parents are usually given a piece of paper summarizing their birth information. This is shared with their family doctor or pediatrician but parents can also input this information as a starting point. From that point on, for every visit, I encourage parents to write down and input the information such as height, weight and vaccines received.”

Focus on the most important information

If you have older children, don’t be intimidated by the process of consolidating every health record and uploading it online.

“I would suggest to distill down information to the key components that are most important to track,” Dr. Wijayasinghe says, admitting that the process can at first seem daunting.

“Out of the paper files, pull out dates and the corresponding heights, weights, developmental milestones and vaccine records. It can be a bit of work in the beginning to consolidate the records but when it’s complete, moving forward digitally can be much easier (and save shelf space for all the paper you don’t need to use!)”

Choose your health apps carefully

There are a lot of health-tracking apps out there. Research well-reviewed ones that will best suit your family’s needs — and also be sure to read up on privacy policies.

Dr. Wijayasinghe often recommends the following apps to parents and kids:

The Always There App from Kids Health Phone, which offers 24/7 counselling for kids

Bant, a Toronto-developed app that helps kids with diabetes track their blood sugar levels and medications and provides a forum for them to interact with other young diabetics. As incentive for imputing their data, kids are given iTunes credits.

WebMD Baby, which allows parents to track their newborn’s sleep, changing and feeding schedules, and provides them with information about developmental milestones, common illnesses and when to seek care.

Immunize Canada, which helps families track immunization statuses and records, and offers general vaccination information and news about outbreaks.

Find a supportive community

Some parents seek support from online forums and communities when raising a child with a worrisome health condition.

Dr. Wijayasinghe stresses the importance of using caution when seeking advice and support from strangers online — “not all information can be reliable and everyone’s medical history is different so the information shared may not be relevant to your unique situation” — but acknowledges that these support groups can be important.

“I think most doctors recognize it can be incredibly reassuring to have an online dialogue with others with similar experiences,” she says.

Do you track your kids’ health digitally?