A partnership between Living Connected and Coordinaire to empower people to better self-manage their condition through improved Digital Health Literacy

Below are key websites and apps that COPD patients and their carers may use.  Many older COPD patients and carers may also need help with basic digital skills such as connecting to wifi, using a browser, staying safe online, installing apps etc.  We aim to help people with COPD to assess which online sources of information or apps to install on their phone or tablet can be trusted and which to avoid.

Key Australian Websites

• The Australian Lung Foundation Lungfoundation.com.au/
• Goverment Introduction to My Health Record, eprescriptions, Telehealth https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/  
• Health Literacy Information for the ACT https://cbrhl.org.au/
• Free health advice https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/
• Communication with a health professional https://www.hcca.org.au/media_releases/make-the-most-of-your-appointment-telehealth-or-face-to-face/

COPD

• The COPD Action Plan  Lungfoundation.com.au/resources/copd-action-plan/
• My COPD Checklist https://lungfoundation.com.au/resources/my-copd-checklist/
• COPD Online Patient Education https://cope.lungfoundation.com.au/
• COPD medicines https://www.nps.org.au/consumers/medicines-for-copd

Digital Health and Digital Literacy

• Australian Digital Health Agency – Online Learning Portal https://training.digitalhealth.gov.au/mod/page/view.php?id=959
• Evaluating Online Sources: The CRAAP Test https://researchguides.ben.edu/source-evaluation
• Good Things Foundation Digital Health e-learning modules: Good Things Learning (goodthingsfoundation.org.au)
• Be Connected’s Health courses Be Connected | Free online courses for seniors (esafety.gov.au)
• Be Connected’s MyGov courses Be Connected | Free online courses for seniors (esafety.gov.au)

Medications

• Medicinewise – medicine management and tracking app, including carer mode, not affiliated with any pharmacy.
• Pharmacy apps that are approved by the Australian Digital Health Agency to manage e-scripts – Look for “mobile application (MA)” in the product type column (we could simplify this for consumers) – ep-conformance-register-20230328.pdf (digitalhealth.gov.au)
• NPS Medicine finder (links may change soon due to change in ownership) – helps you find the brand and pharmaceutical name of your medicine and includes all the consumer medicines information in multiple formats
• Inhaler devices for respiratory medicines – NPS MedicineWise
• Inhaler technique videos: How-to videos – National Asthma Council Australia

General Health Literacy

• Health Literacy Information for the ACT – Canberra Health Literacy (cbrhl.org.au)
• HCCA list of trusted health websites: HCCA_FS_TrustedHealthWebsites_2022.pdf
• Videos and factsheets on finding and evaluating good health information online: Finding good health information online | Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
• MLA : For Health Consumers and Patients : Find Good Health Information (mlanet.org)
• MLA : For Health Consumers and Patients : What Did My Doctor Say? (mlanet.org)
•  Questions to Ask – Canberra Health Literacy (cbrhl.org.au).
• Tipsheet “Making the most of your appointment” iMaking-the-Most-of-Your-Appointment-Resource-List.pdf (hcca.org.au)

General Apps

• Air Quality Monitor & Allergy Symptom Tracker – AirRater is recommended by Asthma Australia for people affected by environmental pollutants
• Flaredown – free app to monitor symptoms, track triggers, exercise, food and more
• Mytherapy – medication and symptom tracker app
• Healthdirect app – find a health service (including online clinics), check your symptoms, find and save useful health articles and can integrate with my health record
• My Health app – new MyHealthRecord app, includes carer view if you authorise someone else to view your profile.
• My QuitBuddy app | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care – to help people who want to quit smoking.