Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) announced the latest versions of the MommyMeds™ mobile app and the MommyMeds.com website on Thursday and hours later, the innovative new app soared to the No. 1, most-downloaded spot in the “Medical” category of the iTunes App Store. The sudden spike in popularity of the app, which will be free for iPhone users through the end of November, indicates the brand is achieving its goal of educating expectant and breastfeeding moms about medication safety.
“There is almost always something a pregnant mother can use safely,” said Thomas Hale, R.Ph., Ph.D., executive director of the InfantRisk Center and author of ‘Medications and Mother’s Milk.’ “We want to promote that with a variety of useful tools and information.”
The app and website are backed by the evidenced-based research and information found in Hale’s book and frequently sought by callers to the InfantRisk Center. The InfantRisk Center, which opened in 2010 through funding provided by a TTUHSC Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health seed grant, strives to educate health care providers and the general public in order to reduce birth defects and create healthy breastfeeding relationships. The center’s staff is available by phone weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has responded to more than 35,000 calls since opening.
The app brings the research and information to the pregnant or breastfeeding mom 24/7
and features:
• Reliable safety ratings and other information for more than 20,000 drugs, vitamins
and herbals
• Product name or category search for safety information to determine if the medication
is safe for use during each trimester and while breastfeeding
• Convenient barcode scanner for over-the-counter medications
• List of appropriate drugs for various conditions, including headache, nausea and
allergies, to find symptom solutions while pregnant or breastfeeding
• Hot topics related to pregnancy and breastfeeding
Combined, these features create an innovative, interactive resource that was a finalist for the 2013 Fierce Innovation Awards: Healthcare Edition in the category of Health Information Exchange.
For more information about MommyMeds™, visit MommyMeds.com or search for “MommyMeds” in the iTunes App Store and Google Play store.