The ALS App at the Time of the Corona Pandemic: Support for Patients and Doctors

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

Digital Capturing of ALS 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 ASL-related symptoms, the ALS Functional Rating Scale revised (ALS-FRSr) has proven a particularly potent tool. This is a 12-item questionnaire on frequent and treatment-relevant symptoms in ALS which patients or their relatives may report by giving one of the answers from the options provided on the questionnaire.

ALS App for the Capturing of the ALS Functional Rating Scale

During the telemedicine visits conducted by doctors of the ALS Outpatient Department at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité University Hospital), the ALS Functional Rating Scale revised is captured. The doctor asks the patient the 12 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, since February 2020, also by using the ALS App especially developed for this purpose. The App is available for smartphone and tablet (https://www.ambulanzpartner.de/als-app/).

ALS App Supporting Telemedicine Visits

To support the telemedicine visits at the Charité in Berlin, we offer ALS patients the option of capturing the ALS-FRSr via the ALS App. Use of this App supports the ALS 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 ALS-FRSr 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 ALS APP

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