The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon launch a free smartphone app powered to provide coaching to clinicians for proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent transmission of Ebola. Via a formal agreement between CDC and 22otters, CDC will make this content available in the coming weeks; in the meantime, 22otters will preview the app at the forthcoming HIMSS15.

A variant of the app with training progress tracking and content modules customized for providers will be released at a later date.The PPE app relies on 22otters’ speech-enabled and animated, step-by-step mobile coaching technology to allow healthcare workers to access easy-to-follow directions for putting on (donning) and removing (doffing) PPE and a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) and prevent transmission of Ebola. Following the initial Ebola app release, 22otters will release a variant of the app allowing training progress tracking and content modules customized for providers.

“This app allows healthcare workers to receive real-time CDC training on personal protective equipment right from their mobile devices,” says Abbigail Tumpey, associate director for communications science for CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. “The Ebola outbreak has highlighted the need to increase training in infection control, including proper use of personal protective equipment, to ensure all healthcare workers are safe while providing care.”

Starting in May, training leaders at hospitals can also use the 22otters version of this app to encourage and monitor staff training by registering to see progress on a free dashboard. This version also includes a comprehension quiz to facilitate monitoring the training status for priority personnel, and the ability to push refreshers to mobile devices at specified times and frequency or provide customized content such as proper specimen handling or hospital discharge preparation.