Introducing the

MedConcerns App

This aphasia-friendly medical assessment makes it easier for healthcare providers and people with aphasia to communicate effectively!

 

MedConcerns is a simple and easy-to-use communication tool that addresses complex communication challenges in healthcare. With embedded communication support tools, people with aphasia and other communication challenges are able to provide important information about their medical concerns and needs to their healthcare providers. 

 

MEDCONCERNS GIVES PATIENTS WITH APHASIA THEIR VOICES BACK!

 
The MedConcerns app is a simple tool that transforms how healthcare providers interact with people facing communication barriers. It was specifically designed to facilitate clearer communication of medical concerns. By combining proven aphasia communication strategies with comprehensive medical assessment questions and options, the healthcare provider is able to meet unique communication needs. It’s time to break down communication barriers in healthcare!  
Learn More…

MEDCONCERNS GIVES PATIENTS WITH APHASIA THEIR VOICES BACK!

The MedConcerns app transforms how healthcare providers interact with people facing communication barriers. It combines proven aphasia communication techniques with comprehensive medical assessment questions, enabling the healthcare provider to meet unique communication needs. It’s time to break down communication barriers in healthcare! Learn More…
Meet our Team | Communication Rescue

Our Story

The MedConcerns app was jointly developed by a speech language pathologist and physician who work regularly with brain injury, stroke, and other diagnoses that often result in communication difficulties. Through their combined experience, they recognized a need to support their fellow healthcare providers and their patients in communicating clearly regarding medical concerns. Research shows healthcare providers have a strong desire to communicate with their patients who have aphasia or other communication impairments, but are frequently frustrated by the limitations of verbal communication and simple communication boards. Together they set off on a path to bridge this gap, and the MedConcerns app was created.

Communication problems between healthcare providers and people with aphasia impacts diagnosis and treatment with “considerable implications for healthcare quality” (Van Rijssen et al., 2020).

The result is a 3x higher risk of preventable adverse events in healthcare for people with aphasia and other communication impairments (Bartlett et al., 2008). 

Research shows people with aphasia communicate more effectively when healthcare providers use supported communication and aphasia-friendly language and tools (Van Rijssen et al., 2020).

Aphasia is a language disorder that results from a brain injury—most often from a stroke.  

There are at least 2 million people in the USA with aphasia (National Aphasia Association, 2024).

No one is born with aphasia. It’s an acquired disorder—one that happens after language skills have already developed. 

Degrees of severity depend on the person and injury. Some people with aphasia have trouble finding words, but are able to speak in sentences. Some people have difficulty getting out any words at all.

Aphasia affects all the ways we understand and communicate language—written, spoken, and even signed—but cognition remains largely intact

People with aphasia still have the right and the need to communicate with their doctors, friends, loved ones, and community, just like any of us, but they no longer have the ease of speaking, texting, or writing. 

Fortunately, communication does not necessarily require language. Although it is more challenging, people who don’t have a shared language can still communicate without words.

Research shows people with aphasia communicate more effectively when communication partners use supported conversation and aphasia-friendly communication strategies. 

Supported communication is all about making communication accessible.

In the same way that we modify buildings to make them accessible to those in wheelchairs, we modify the communication environment for increased accessibility.

By modifying the communication environment, including combining various means of expression rather than relying on speaking or writing alone, we don’t leave anyone out of the conversation.

“In supported communication, people without language disorders are encouraged to take an active role in ensuring the best exchange of information possible, providing help in the form of cueing, requesting clarification, paraphrasing, asking for verification of what one has understood, and supporting content through multiple modalities (Hallowell, 2023, p. 372).

Multiple modalities might include written & spoken language, pictures, drawing, pointing, gesture, and other aphasia-friendly communication methods.

Aphasia-friendly communication includes changes that make our message easier to receive, and that enable the person with aphasia to have an easier time conveying their own message. These include: 

  • Layering language modalities and means of expression (verbal, written, gesture, facial expression,  intonation, pointing, etc)
  • Including pictures, drawings, or pictographs
  • Using short & simple sentence structures
  • Eliminating irrelevant information and content 
  • Using ample white space 
  • Emphasizing key words by bolding, underlying, or highlighting
  • Using a larger font size
  • Asking for verification of what you understood 
  • Asking yes/no questions
  • Summarizing what has been communicated

Our aim was to create an app that embeds supported and aphasia-friendly communication to increase accessibility for people with aphasia. 

MedConcerns was specifically designed to facilitate clearer communication between people with aphasia and healthcare providers.

  • The flow of questions was structured to help guide the healthcare team in using supported communication during their medical assessment. 
  • Confirmation pages include yes/no questions to support understanding and to verify responses. 
  • Pictured icons are combined with  written and spoken keywords to make concepts clear. 
  • Images and language are simplified and lack irrelevant and distracting content.
  • The app design and its icons include ample white space. 
  • Keywords are listed at the top of each screen to clarify the category or the question.
  • MedConcerns displays a summary screen after the flow of questions is complete. This allows the person with aphasia to double check their responses and provides a summary for the healthcare provider. 
  • Communication boards can be quickly accessed to self-advocate and make  wants and needs known.
  • A topic board can be used to guide conversation with healthcare staff. 
  • Users can make modifications under the settings screen—removing icons that don’t pertain to them, and reducing the number of icons on the screen for increased accessibility.
  • MedConcerns is in Spanish and English. More languages will come as we continue to update!

We know that communication disorders challenge the provision of healthcare services.  Physicians have acknowledged challenges caring for these patients, impacting their confidence in making accurate diagnoses and treatment recommendations (Burns et al., 2015; Meredith et a., 2007; Ziviani et al., 2004).

As a result, adults with communication disorders are at higher risk for adverse events in health care (Bartlett et al., 2008).

MedConcerns was created to enable healthcare providers to meet unique communication needs. This is why we embedded supported conversation and aphasia-friendly communication into MedConcerns—to increase accessibility for people with aphasia and to facilitate use of supported conversation by healthcare providers when assessing medical concerns.  

 

MedConcerns was created to facilitate clearer communication between people with aphasia and their healthcare providers, but it is also useful when other communication barriers are present.

 

Did you know that...

10% of Americans report a communication disability.

The risk of an adverse medical event is 3x higher in patients with aphasia.

15% of admitted patients had almost no ability to communicate.

Do you want to bridge the communication gap with your patients with Aphasia?

Healthcare providers want to improve the quality of care for patients with aphasia. Most providers do not receive adequate training to meet unique communication needs. The MedConcerns app provides healthcare professionals with built-in communication tools. With MedConcerns serving as interpreter, providers can better understand patients with aphasia and uncover medical problems easier and faster.  

How the app flows

Comprehensive symptom choices

Clarifying questions for detailed assessment

Confirmation pages to verify understanding

Zoom Capability!

Yes/No board available at all times!

Whiteboard full of options!

All app images available for whiteboard!

Personalized settings!

Education pages available!

What's new?