Roxanne Crosby-Nwaobi, lead nurse for research at Moorfields, has received awards from Nursing Times Digital, and Zenith Global Health for Digital Practice of the Future and Clinical Research and Education respectively.
Nursing Times Digital was seeking ideas by nurses or midwifes who could recognise practical challenges and put forward bold ideas for a technological innovation to improve patient safety or experience. Roxanne’s idea was for a hospital-driven medication reminder app – MedMemo. One fundamental, yet often overlooked aspect of care, is adhering to medication regimens.
On average, 50% of patients either miss their doses or take them incorrectly, especially those on intricate regimens. Complex regimens can be overwhelming for patients, particularly for those with cognitive impairment, frailty, poor eyesight or limited dexterity.
MedMemo is intended to bridge this gap, empowering patients to self-manage their condition and adhere to their prescribed regimen. This would promote better patient outcomes, reduce hospital readmissions, and improve clinical efficiency. Unlike existing solutions, MedMemo is driven by the patient, care team and hospital IT systems, and intended to reduce the burden on patients to manually enter their medication regimen. It is intended to deliver precise reminders tailored to each patient’s unique schedule, offer simple language explanations, and be viewable in a patient’s preferred language for accessibility.
Roxanne also won the Clinical Research and Education award at the Zenith Global Health Awards, for her work in reaching underserved communities and promoting research opportunities. Roxanne has been leading a campaign to raise awareness of taking part in clinical research among underserved communities, minor ethnic groups and people from socioeconomically deprived areas of London, which are all traditionally poorly represented in clinical trials.
By increasing representation of underserved communities, it improves their outcomes and boosts the overall effectiveness of new treatments in a wider population. Roxanne has been delivering this through the establishment of ROAM (research opportunities at Moorfields), a digital platform for people to easily register interest, making ROAM promotional materials available on hospital sites in different languages, and by conducting roadshows to directly reach local communities and highlight the importance of conducting eye research.
Congratulations to Roxanne, and we wish her all the best ahead of next month, when she will present MedMemo to a panel of health and tech experts.
10 October 2023