Apple has introduced CareKit a new open-source framework that is designed to let developers build health apps. Available in April, CareKit makes it easier for individuals to keep track of care plans and monitor symptoms and medication.
The open source framework will allow the developers to continue building on the first four modules designed by Apple. The first CareKit app called as Care Card is for people with Parkinson’s disease which will help to track changes to their health over time and let them communicate with their medical professionals. Next up, Symptom and Measurement Tracker lets users easily record their symptoms and how they are feeling, like monitoring temperature for possible infections or measuring pain or fatigue.
Moving on the Insight Dashboard maps symptoms against the action items in the Care Card to easily show how treatments are working. Finally, Connect makes it easy for people to share information and communicate with doctors, care teams or family members about their health and any change in condition.
Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer said
We’re thrilled with the profound impact ResearchKit has already had on the pace and scale of conducting medical research, and have realised that many of the same principles could help with individual care. We believe that giving individuals the tools to understand what is happening with their health is incredibly powerful, and apps designed using CareKit make this a reality by empowering people to take a more active role in their care.
Along with the CareKit, Apple also announced developments for ResearchKit which is an app for iPhone that allows people to easily participate in medical research used by doctors and researchers in several fields. It focuses on collecting data for medical studies.