Source: WDR Lokalzeit, report from 01.08.2024. The WDR Lokalzeit reports on DocToRead
The WDR report is dedicated to the DocToRead app. The focus is on the patient Ina, who has suffered chronically from endometriosis for over 13 years and repeatedly has to struggle through medical reports that she often only partially understands due to the technical language.
She has now tested Bastian Hollmann’s low-cost app, which translates doctors’ reports into understandable German. Ina is relieved that such a tool finally exists.
Doctor Till Gaensicke, a specialist in internal medicine in Cologne, has also tried out the app and gained a positive impression.
Finally, Stefanie Federhehn from the University Hospital of Cologne is interviewed. She also emphasises the crucial importance of patient-friendly communication and points out that immigrants in particular need support in understanding medical reports.
Click here for the WDR report, 01.08.2024 (beginning from 9’06”).
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Source: The report was published on 18.06.2024 in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (www.ksta.de).We would like to thank the publisher, the editor Katja Pohl and the photographer Mr. Dierke for agreeing to further publication.
With “Doctoread”, Bastian Hollmann from Müllenbach has developed an app for explaining doctors’ diagnoses
BY KATJA POHL
Müllenbach. A visit to the doctor is often stressful – you’re already feeling under the weather and also have to understand what the doctor has diagnosed and recommended, so it’s best to keep in mind which specialist is needed and which treatments are pending. Moreover, doctors usually only have a small time window per patient. When the doctor’s report arrives after the visit, you are confronted with technical language that is both confusing and difficult to understand. It is then difficult to ask specific questions.
To remedy this, Bastian Hollmann from Marienheide-Müllenbach has developed an app together with the Berlin IT company Viasolutions, which is based in Meinerzhagen. He is convinced: “Only those who are well informed can make the right decisions for themselves or their loved ones. A lack of information can even be dangerous in the case of many diseases.”
The founder has named the development “DocToRead”. The app, which can be used on a smartphone or computer, translates diagnoses, findings, discharge letters and reports into understandable language. The documents are either photographed or uploaded and then translated. This can even be done in different languages – even Hindi is possible, reports Bastian Hollmann. Anyone who wants to can even have these texts read aloud to them or send them to friends or acquaintances via email or messenger services such as Whatsapp.
Seamless data protection was important to the founder, as sensitive data is often involved in the medical sector. “We work together with the NRW data protection authority. In addition, each user must first set a personal access code. All data then only remains on the device and is not stored in the cloud.” As a user of the app, it is also important to take data protection into account and not to photograph or upload the names of clinics, doctors and patients, says the founder. The app itself is structured as simply as possible so that older people can also use it without any problems.
Bastian Hollmann trained as a radiology assistant, first worked at Münster University Hospital and then for many years in the medical industry in the field of radiology and radiotherapy. He remembers numerous conversations with friends and acquaintances: “I was often asked what one technical term or another meant and was asked to explain diagnoses. It became clear that there was a cross-generational need for such an app.” And a great urgency, because many clinical pictures are also associated with anxiety. “People who understand what’s going on stay calmer.” Hollmann notes that it has been proven that patients who are better able to assess their health situation and have a say in it
are more cooperative, adhere better to treatment, take medication more conscientiously and – where the clinical picture allows – recover more quickly.
The “Doctoread” app currently costs a one-off fee of 3.99 euros and can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
www.doctoread.com
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Source: Märkischer Zeitungsverlag GmbH & Co. KG https://www.come-on.de/kreis-mk/die-app-doctoread-macht-medizinische-berichte-verstaendlich-93096058.html
Many people are often at a loss when faced with complex medical reports from their doctors. Bastian Hollmann, founder of the new “DocToRead” app, knows this challenge only too well. As a former employee in the radiology department of a university hospital, Hollmann has experienced first-hand how patients struggle to understand their medical reports.
“It was always the same: patients left the hospital with more questions than answers,” says Hollmann. His experience in the medical industry, particularly in radiotherapy and radiology, where he has worked for around 20 years and been involved in numerous developments, gave him the insight he needed to develop a solution. The “DocToRead” app transforms opaque medical documents into a language that everyone can understand. It not only translates language-independent medical reports into various understandable languages, but also allows them to be saved on a cell phone, read aloud and sent to family and friends. “I wanted to create something that not only informs, but also empowers. It’s important that patients understand their health data so that they can make informed decisions,” explains Hollmann.
The user-friendliness and practical features of the app, such as the save and read aloud options, are a direct result of Hollmann’s many years of experience and his deep understanding of patients’ needs. “DocToRead” is more than a translation app; it is an essential companion for anyone who wants to actively take care of their health.
With “DocToRead”, medical communication becomes easier and more accessible, fundamentally changing the way people understand and manage their health. Bastian Hollmann sees his app as an important step towards closing the gap between medical professionals and patients, while at the same time increasing patients’ confidence and autonomy in health matters.
The company, based in Meinerzhagen, brings innovative solutions from the region to the world. With the “DocToRead” app, patients always have their findings, information documents or discharge letters to hand. With just one click, the complicated becomes child’s play. The app can be conveniently downloaded for a fee via the App Store or Google Play. Important: Take data protection into account! Always cover up or black out the names of clinics, doctors and patients on medical documents beforehand.
Download Google Play Store
Download Apple Store
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Source: Märkischer Zeitungsverlag GmbH & Co. KG https://www.come-on.de/volmetal/meinerzhagen/innovative-app-arztbriefe-doctoread-meinerzhagen-patienten-aerzte-93187941.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1iXAEB4F0I-N9UejzxnrtpyMIqAiET9O2XdhKwisi_ZD4TJXrf-STX_ks_aem_xQ1LHf4va0xE00JFLUT5dQ#Echobox=1721053649
It’s bad enough when you’re ill. But what exactly am I suffering from? Many patients only understand their medical findings when they hear them. An app from Meinerzhagen helps.
Meinerzhagen – A doctor’s report full of Latin terms is not only a major challenge for older people. The complicated medical terms are almost incomprehensible to laypeople. Many a person struggles word by word through “Doctor Google”, but is what comes up at the end the truth? The context is often missing. Much remains unclear and yet it is important knowledge for our own health. Or even the well-being of relatives.
Bastian Hollmann thought it was high time to remedy the situation and offer patients practical assistance and founded a company based in Meinerzhagen. The innovative “DocToRead” app, which “translates” doctors’ reports into clear language, aims to make medical findings understandable. For everyone. And at any time. “The app is child’s play to use,” assures Hollmann, who can look back on over 20 years of expertise in the field of medical technology.
Through his work in radiology at Münster University Hospital, he had close contact with patients and often found that people were left baffled when they received their diagnosis. There are many reasons for this: doctors and medical staff are under time pressure. “There is often simply not enough time for a personal, detailed and informative discussion,” observes Hollmann. What remains is an uneasy, uncertain feeling. Often accompanied by fear. With the new app, which also translates foreign-language findings into understandable German or vice versa into another language, these problems should be a thing of the past.
Once you have installed the app on your cell phone or tablet, you first log in with password protection. “Then simply take a photo of the doctor’s report or upload the digital version and press the ‘Create report’ button. Then click on ‘Save report’ and you’re done,” says Bastian Hollmann, explaining the simple procedure. “The app is expressly not a treatment recommendation,” says the founder and CEO. “But I want to take away patients’ fears and promote their understanding of the diagnosis.”
The “DocToRead” app can also be a valuable aid in obtaining a second opinion. Conveniently, the reports can not only be read. The integrated audio function offers enormous advantages for people with reading difficulties or older people, adds Hollmann.
The app has been on the market for six weeks and is available in Germany, the UK, Poland and Spain. Other countries are to follow. “DocToRead” is suitable for all medical reports: for patient files, findings, information documents and discharge letters. Personal data is not published. The ad-free “DocToRead” app meets the strict requirements of the GDPR.
E-prescriptions have been mandatory in doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies since January. The technology promises to simplify the process of obtaining medication. But there are still some minor aches and pains.
