Is There an App for That?

International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 2013

Journal of Research in Nursing

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2007

Adolescent cancer patients have to deal with many dependencies and obligations. Very often they are torn out of their social environment and become isolated because of changing therapy cycles and different treatment locations. This causes significant social and economic damage. The objective of this article is to present the first steps of an empirical exploration of the possibilities of mobile IT support for communication and coordination for this target group during treatment and aftercare. Special emphasis is put on the effects of mobile systems on the patient's perceived quality of life. The background we bring to the fore is a four-month field experiment conducted together with the cancer station of the hospital of Heidelberg University. We focus on particularities of and challenges for mobile information systems for patients in Germany and outline necessary future research aspects in this field. . He runs research groups on virtual communities, e-health and ubiquitous/mobile computing, and manages several publicly funded research projects. Leimeister has worked on different occasions for companies such as DaimlerChrysler, IBM and debis. His teaching and research areas include virtual communities, e-health, IT innovation management, service science, ubiquitous and mobile computing, computer supported cooperative work and information management.

BioMedical Engineering OnLine, 2011

The latest generation of smartphones are increasingly viewed as handheld computers rather than as phones, due to their powerful on-board computing capability, capacious memories, large screens and open operating systems that encourage application development. This paper provides a brief state-of-the-art overview of health and healthcare smartphone apps (applications) on the market today, including emerging trends and market uptake. Platforms available today include Android, Apple iOS, RIM BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows (Windows Mobile 6.x and the emerging Windows Phone 7 platform). The paper covers apps targeting both laypersons/patients and healthcare professionals in various scenarios, e.g., health, fitness and lifestyle education and management apps; ambient assisted living apps; continuing professional education tools; and apps for public health surveillance. Among the surveyed apps are those assisting in chronic disease management, whether as standalone apps or part of a BAN (Body Area Network) and remote server configuration. We describe in detail the development of a smartphone app within eCAALYX (Enhanced Complete Ambient Assisted Living Experiment, 2009-2012), an EU-funded project for older people with multiple chronic conditions. The eCAALYX Android smartphone app receives input from a BAN (a patient-wearable smart garment with wireless health sensors) and the GPS (Global Positioning System) location sensor in the smartphone, and communicates over the Internet with a remote server accessible by healthcare professionals who are in charge of the remote monitoring and management of the older patient with multiple chronic conditions. Finally, we briefly discuss barriers to adoption of health and healthcare smartphone apps (e.g., cost, network bandwidth and battery power efficiency, usability, privacy issues, etc.), as well as some workarounds to mitigate those barriers.

Journal of primary care & community health, 2015

Through a cancer research infrastructure building grant, iPads were given to health care providers in family physician offices. The purpose of this study was to determine the use and application of iPads in the Iowa Research Network. A Qualtrics survey was sent to 81 iPad recipients after institutional review board approval. Fifty-nine percent responded and 85% reported they have used the iPad. The main reason for use of the iPad was browsing the World Wide Web for health care information. Open-ended comments supported use of the iPad for photographic documentation of wound and other skin lesions for insertion into the medical record and it helped improve clinic flow by making it easier to put orders in the system through the iPad. Tablet uses are variable in physician offices with provider's gathering health care information from the Internet and securing education material for patients as the frequent usages.

Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine, 2015

Background: Patients requiring daily intravenous (IV) home parenteral nutrition (HPN) would benefit from in-home professional observation to improve self-care, to assess, detect and prevent serious complications. Aims: The study aims are to assess the viability and utility of conducting mobile healthcare (mHealth) videoconference assessments with patients managing lifelong daily 12-hour IV nutrition infusions in their homes. The challenges and solutions to implementing mobile personal computer (PC) tablet based clinic appointments are described. Methods: A wireless Apple iPad Mini TM mobile touch-screen tablet computer with 5 mega-pixel camera was loaned to patients. Each tablet had Polycom RealPresence software and a fourth generation (4G) mobile telecommunications data plan. These supported audiovisual mobile videoconferencing encrypted connections between health professionals in their offices and HPN patients and their family members in their homes. Patients' and professionals' evaluations of their mHealth clinic experiences are collected. Results: Patients (mean age 0 41.9, SD 0 2.8 years) had been prescribed 12-hour home parenteral nutrition (HPN) infusions daily due short bowel disorders. Patients had been on HPN from 1 to 10 years (M 04, SD 03.6). Evaluation of clinic appointments revealed that 100% of the patients (n 045) and the professionals (n 06) indicated that they can clearly hear and easily see one another. The mHealth audiovisual interactions were highly rated by patients and family members. Professionals highly rated their ability to obtain a medical history and visual inspection of patients. Several challenges were identified and recommendations for resolutions are described.

JRSM, 2012

2013

Healthcare organizations are increasingly faced with an environment in which they must implement health information systems to achieve higher standards for efficiency and quality of care while at the same time being asked to provide needed services with fewer resources. This is particularly challenging for rural health systems where access to resources is often more limited. This study investigates the potential value of iPad tablets for enhancing health services delivery by primary care physicians in rural Nevada. Methods: Five physicians from rural Nevada were selected to receive iPads and funding for apps that would enhance their medical practices. Following a year of use, data was gathered on each physician's actual use and perceived value of the iPads. A case study approach was taken using both an online survey and semi-structured phone interviews to collect case data. Results: Use and perceived usefulness of the iPad was mixed but generally positive with some physicians utilizing it much more than others. The iPads were primarily used by the physicians to access medical information through online resources (e.g. Epocrates and UpToDate) for reference and diagnostic purposes, although they were also used for some interaction with patients. All felt that resources available through the iPad were limited and that better applications would improve the usefulness of the iPad, particularly in regard to graphical and video content suitable to sharing with patients. Conclusions: Physicians in this study felt that the iPad could fill a need between smartphones and desktops, which were their primary technology tools prior to receiving the iPad, but that useful medical applications and resources are currently limited for the iPad. In particular, better graphical and video content would improve the usefulness of the iPad as a tool for patient interactions. Apps that store content locally would serve to mitigate inconsistent internet access that is still common in rural settings, increasing the usefulness of the iPad in that context. Tablets like the iPad also have potential for use in accessing the electronic medical record systems that are increasingly being implemented in rural hospitals and healthcare facilities.

Online J Public Health Inform, 2014

This paper examines the state of the art in mobile clinical and health-related apps. A 2012 estimate puts the number of health-related apps at no fewer than 40,000, as healthcare professionals and consumers continue to express concerns about the quality of many apps, calling for some form of app regulatory control or certification to be put in place. We describe the range of apps on offer as of 2013, and then present a brief survey of evaluation studies of medical and health-related apps that have been conducted to date, covering a range of clinical disciplines and topics. Our survey includes studies that highlighted risks, negative issues and worrying deficiencies in existing apps. We discuss the concept of 'apps as a medical device' and the relevant regulatory controls that apply in USA and Europe, offering examples of apps that have been formally approved using these mechanisms. We describe the online Health Apps Library run by the National Health Service in England and the calls for a vetted medical and health app store. We discuss the ingredients for successful apps beyond the rather narrow definition of 'apps as a medical device'. These ingredients cover app content quality, usability, the need to match apps to consumers' general and health literacy levels, device connectivity standards (for apps that connect to glucometers, blood pressure monitors, etc.), as well as app security and user privacy. 'Happtique Health App Certification Program' (HACP), a voluntary app certification scheme, successfully captures most of these desiderata, but is solely focused on apps targeting the US market. HACP, while very welcome, is in ways reminiscent of the early days of the Web, when many "similar" quality benchmarking tools and codes of conduct for information publishers were proposed to appraise and rate online medical and health information. It is probably impossible to rate and police every app on offer today, much like in those early days of the Web, when people quickly realised the same regarding informational Web pages. The best first line of defence was, is, and will always be to educate consumers regarding the potentially harmful content of (some) apps.

Oakland, CA: California HealthCare Foundation, 2010

Pediatric Anesthesia, 2017

Background: Cognitive aids help clinicians manage critical events and have been shown to improve outcomes by providing critical information at the point of care. Critical event guidelines, such as the Society of Pediatric Anesthesia's Critical Events Checklists described in this article, can be distributed globally via interactive smartphone apps. From October 1, 2013 to January 1, 2014, we performed an observational study to determine the global distribution and utilization patterns of the Pedi Crisis cognitive aid app that the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia developed. We analyzed distribution and utilization metrics of individuals using Pedi Crisis on iOS (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA) devices worldwide. We used Google Analytics software (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA) to monitor users' app activity (eg, screen views, user sessions). Methods: The primary outcome measurement was the number of user-sessions and geographic locations of Pedi Crisis user sessions. Each user was defined by the use of a unique Apple ID on an iOS device. Results: Google Analytics correlates session activity with geographic location based on local Internet service provider logs. Pedi Crisis had 1 252 active users (both new and returning) and 4 140 sessions across 108 countries during the 3-month study period. Returning users used the app longer and viewed significantly more screens that new users (mean screen views: new users 1.3 [standard deviation +/À1.09, 95% confidence interval 1.22-1.55]; returning users 7.6 [standard deviation +/À4.19, 95% confidence interval 6.73-8.39]P<.01) Conclusions: Pedi Crisis was used worldwide within days of its release and sustained utilization beyond initial publication. The proliferation of handheld electronic devices provides a unique opportunity for professional societies to improve the worldwide dissemination of guidelines and evidence-based cognitive aids.

Archivos argentinos de pediatria, 2018

The digital revolution will have a profound impact on how physicians and health care delivery organizations interact with patients and the community. Primary pediatric care has been historically known in our setting because pediatricians are widely available for consultations. The rapid development of information and communication technologies and their impact on people&#39;s life pose a new challenge for pediatricians in relation to the way they communicate with the families of the patients they see. The objective of this article is to analyze the available channels for communication mediated by information and communication technologies with patients, and to propose recommendations for their adequate use.

CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 2005

The use of mobile computing (MC), such as Tablet computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) in particular, has grown substantially over the past 5 years in healthcare practice. A 2003 survey of PDA users in the United States indicated that 11% of owners are in the healthcare industry. 1 Physicians appeared to be heavy users, 2,3 although advanced practice nurses 4,5 and visiting nurses 6 also have increased adoption of MC.

Medical Journal of Australia, 2019

aediatric patients with chronic health conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or asthma, are faced with unique challenges in managing their health. One key aspect of effective chronic disease management is building an effective partnership between the patients, their families and the clinical team as the child transitions to adolescence and then adulthood. 1 Poor communication with health professionals is consistently identified by patients as one of the key barriers to effective selfmanagement of their health. 2 E-health technologies, specifically patient-facing mobile applications (apps) can potentially provide a solution to improving patient-practitioner communication in paediatric settings.

Journal of Media Critiques, 2014

With the effect of recent rapid developments in communication technologies, every day, and various new experiences are introduced into daily life practices. The spread of smart devices and the increase in their accessibility causes a reorganization of the information concerning the daily life via smart phones, tablets, all peripheral devices which can communicate with them, and applications which are installed in these devices. There is also a rapid development in the field of health which has an important position among the fastest growing fields in digital life; and the information and possibilities which are provided by mobile health applications to people who are not health care professionals are also developing rapidly. In this study, health applications which are developed for IOS operating system and presented to the consumers through Apple App-Store on Apple I-Phone and I-Pad mobile devices are examined in order to reveal what mobile health applications as new practices of daily life offer in terms of health and how they direct the individuals towards healthy behavior; and some of the most frequently used free applications are included as sample applications. Mobile health applications offer many conveniences to the patients or the caretakers of patients such as reminding about medicines or treatments, and administering and monitoring simple treatments.