Allergy Check
Protecting children with allergies by creating an allergy assessment and support app
Partner
Dr. Victoria Cook and BC Children’s Hospital Pediatric Allergists
UBC Department of Pediatrics
Food Allergy Canada
Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
The Digital Lab
Type of work
Digital Health App
technology
Overview
Supporting Children with Food Allergies
The Digital Lab and pediatric allergists at BC Children’s Hospital partnered to develop Allergy Check. Food allergies occur when our body thinks food is toxic and are common in children. Allergies range from mild to life-threatening and are different from food intolerances. Only 1 medical allergy professional is available for every 187,000 people in BC. As a result patients are often placed on long waitlists to get support and accurate information about their allergies. Often patients access misleading and alarming information about allergies online which can cause anxiety and fear. Allergy Check addresses these gaps by providing parents with a symptom assessment and reliable evidence-based allergy information.
Research & Design
A Source For Evidence-Based Personalized Allergy Information
In order to help patients accurately manage allergies and find factual information, the Digital Lab and BC Children’s Hospital pediatric allergists partnered to create the Allergy Check application. The Digital Lab team gathered feedback from physicians, pediatric patients and parents to learn about the challenges of food allergies. The application was developed, and validated through cycles of user testing to ensure it met the needs of key stakeholders.
The Allergy Check application ensures that patients can access reliable allergy information videos, articles and websites to determine whether they need to see an allergist. Further, patients can participate in a survey which can be completed in less than 5 minutes to assess their symptoms and receive personalized results about the chances of a potential food allergy. Allergy Check helps users recognize symptoms and manage suspected allergies while they wait to see a doctor. The application also supports medical providers, allowing them to assess patient results and determine if users’ results necessitate referral to a specialist.
Impact
Allergy Support for Children and Their Families
The Allergy Check application acts as a centralized resource for managing food allergies. Following the launch of the application over 10,000 unique users have used it to manage potential allergy symptoms. The application has streamlined symptom assessment with the survey taking on average 1 minute and 20 seconds to complete. While the application is most commonly used in Canada, users in 18 different countries have utilized the application to assess over 1,800 unique symptoms. Allergy Check allows people to learn about allergies, reducing fear and anxiety about potential allergies while also aiding in shortening long waitlists to access specialists to manage potential allergies.
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