When kids have a chronic condition, there are many tasks to remember and track, not to mention disruptions to family routines. Whether they’re managing asthma, diabetes, juvenile arthritis or kidney disease, families juggle medical appointments, complex medication schedules, dietary restrictions and more to keep their children healthy.
Fortunately, for these day-to-day tasks between visits, MyChart is a great way to help track your child’s progress, stay in touch with providers, and reduce the risk of complications or disease progression.
“It’s the burden chronic disease carries,” said Shefali Mahesh, MD, a pediatric nephrologist, medical staff president and Dr. Noah Miller Chair of Pediatrics at Akron Children’s. “Chronic conditions often disrupt family routines due to recurring appointments and sudden flare-ups that need unplanned medical attention, create conflict if there are dietary or activity restrictions, or cause distress because kids may see themselves as different from their friends.”
MyChart is helping families manage their children’s chronic illnesses in the most coordinated, transparent and least disruptive way. She offers 4 ways MyChart helps to keep families on task and enhance continuity of care to improve kids’ quality of life, limit family disruption and allow them to get back to what they do best: just being kids.
Directly connects families with team of providers
MyChart Messaging is a valuable tool that gives families direct access to their providers for timely feedback. Families don’t have to wait for open office hours, play phone tag or go through multiple people, where important details can get lost in translation, to communicate with their provider.
With MyChart Messaging, you can securely email your child’s physician day or night at your convenience with non-urgent medical concerns. You might need to ask about dietary restrictions (for diabetes), whether your child can take Tylenol with current medications or if a child can participate in a certain sport (despite an asthma diagnosis).
In addition, you can attach images and documents to the message. You may need to maintain charts at home to record health stats, such as blood pressure or weight, or you may want to snap a picture of a sudden rash (juvenile arthritis) to share with your provider for advice.
Lastly, other members of the care team, such as dietitians, social workers or therapists, can be connected to weigh in, if necessary.
“If a flare-up occurs, MyChart Messaging allows for direct guidance from your provider and a timely plan and follow-up to be put in place,” said Dr. Mahesh. “Unnecessary ER visits can be avoided if you can connect with your child’s provider directly and agree upon an escalation plan.”
MyChart helps to keep families on task, enhance continuity of care and limit family disruption to improve kids’ quality of lives.
Enhances continuity of care
Because flare-ups don’t always occur from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or take a break while vacationing, it’s important your child’s medical record is only one login away. With MyChart, you have permanent access to important health information, such as your child’s health summary and history, current medications, allergies and immunization records.
In addition, if your child needs immediate medical care, MyChart’s Share Everywhere functionality allows you to grant temporary access to your child’s medical information to any provider taking care of her.
In minutes, the provider will see a subset of the same information you see when logging into MyChart, including allergies, current medications, immunizations, lab results, visit records and current health issues. In addition, the provider can write a note back to your child’s care team about care he provided.
Improves disease education and information sharing
MyChart enables you to review clinician notes so you can revisit the details of your child’s last appointment. You may need to remind yourself how and when to give your child’s medications, review the office discussion and next steps, or share notes with other family members.
If your child has been newly diagnosed with a chronic disease, you probably have many questions about the disease and what it could mean for your child. MyChart offers a Health Resource Library, where you can search for information on medical conditions, medications, procedures and more.
Limits disruption to work and school routines
MyChart offers convenience for families to manage their child’s health care anytime, anywhere.
You can send a request for prescription renewals for any of your child’s refillable medications. MyChart includes the refill and dosage information, as well as your current pharmacy, so the only information you need to include is any new allergies your child may have developed or pharmacy changes.
Test results and your provider’s comments are available in MyChart within days. No more waiting for a letter or phone call from the office. You also can view results on a chart to track progress.
In addition, MyChart makes it easy to manage appointments. You can schedule and cancel your child’s appointments in MyChart, and review details of past and upcoming appointments.
What’s more, you can pay your medical bills through MyChart and request price estimates for patient services.
Best of all, these services are available at your fingertips through MyChart Mobile.
For questions or to sign up for MyChart, call 330-543-4400 or email mycharthelp@akronchildrens.org.
