The Corona pandemic demands protection from infection. These measures represent an essential change to the way people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are cared for. In such scenarios, the importance of telemedicine visits with patients and doctors has reached an unprecedented status.

Digital Capturing of SMA Symptoms

At telehealth visits, systematic communication of symptoms and complaints by the patient is vital for the doctor to evaluate the situation. For the structured capturing of SMA-related symptoms, the Functional Rating Scale has proven a particularly potent tool. This is a 15-item questionnaire on frequent and treatment-relevant symptoms in SMA which patients or their relatives may report by giving one of the answers from the options provided on the questionnaire.

SMA App for the Capturing of the Functional Rating Scale

During the telemedicine visits conducted by doctors of the Neuromuscular Disesase Outpatient Department at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité University Hospital), the Functional Rating Scale revised is captured. The doctor asks the patient the 15 questions on the scale and the patient answers them. One alternative to telephone-based interviews is the submission of answers “online” prior to conducting the telemedicine visit, i.e. either by personally registering on the APST platform and also by using the SMA App especially developed for this purpose. The App is available for smartphone and tablet (https://www.ambulanzpartner.de/sma-app/).

SMA App Supporting Telemedicine Visits

To support the telemedicine visits at the Charité in Berlin, we offer SMA patients the option of capturing the Functional Rating Scale via the SMA App. Use of this App supports the neuromuscular disease outpatient department’s care team in the preparation of the telemedicine visits and in their endeavor to render them effectively. This tool helps the doctor to quickly assess disease progression over the course of time.

We recommend performing the self-rating Functional Rating Scale once a month, for optimum support of the telemedicine treatment, which is of crucial relevance at the time of the Corona pandemic.

Get Help with the SMA APP

For any queries on the installation and use of the SMA App, please contact:
Friedrich Schaudinn
- App-Manager - support@ambulanzpartner.de
Tel. +49 (0)30-81031410
Mobil: +49 (0)170-5564502