Digital Health – Living Connected

Digital Health Resources

A partnership between Living Connected and the South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network, COORDINARE, seeks to empower people with COPD chronic diseases or general health issuues to better self-manage their condition through improved Digital Health Literacy.

Below are key websites and apps recommended by Australian experts. Many older people and carers may also need help with basic digital skills, such as connecting to Wi-Fi, using a browser, staying safe online and installing apps. We aim to help people assess which online sources of health information or apps can be trusted and which they’re best off avoiding. Contact us if your group is interested in organizing a session with us.

Key Australian Websites

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 Patients

The Australian Lung Foundation Lungfoundation.com.au/
The COPD Action Plan Lungfoundation.com.au/resources/copd-action-plan/
The COPD Action Plan as a pdf
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 & 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

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 Health 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.