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Review and analysis of existing mobile phone applications for health care–associated infection prevention
Abstract
The expanding number of mobile health applications (apps) holds potential to reduce and eliminate health care-associated infections (HAIs) in clinical practice. The purpose of this review was to identify and provide an overview of the apps available to support prevention of HAIs and to assess their functionality and potential uses in clinical care.
We searched 3 online mobile app stores using the following terms: infection prevention, prevention, hand hygiene, hand washing, and specific HAI terms (catheter-associated urinary tract infection [CAUTI], central line-associated bloodstream infections, surgical site infection, and ventilator associated pneumonia [VAP]).
Search queries yielded a total of 2,646 potentially relevant apps, of which 17 met our final inclusion criteria. The areas of focus were CAUTI (n = 1, 5.9%), VAP (n = 1, 5.9%), environmental monitoring (n = 2, 11.8%), and hand hygiene (n = 2, 11.8%); the remainder (n = 11, 64.7%) were focused on >1 area (eg, multiple infection prevention bundles, infection prevention guidelines). Almost all of the apps (70.6%) had a maximum of two functions.
Mobile apps may help reduce HAI by providing easy access to guidelines, hand hygiene monitoring support, or step-by-step procedures aimed at reducing infections at the point of clinical care. Given the dearth of available apps and the lack of functionality with those that are available, there is a need for further development of mobile apps for HAI prevention at the point of care.
Copyright © 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
... Smartphones make a relevant impact on the healthcare system 30 [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [31], [32] Smartphones are not relevant to the healthcare system 2 [23], [30] From there, the authors scanned the title of the papers to eliminate unrelated papers which are unrelated. Then the data selection process is continued by eliminating data whose abstracts do not cover the research questions domain. ...
... In clinical and hospitality perception, smartphones have been used to support preventing HAIs by providing guidelines, supporting hand hygiene monitoring, and reducing infection at the clinic and hospital. This success rate results were identified using the review of the mHealth user [30]. Smartphones are also used in not only inpatient treatment but also outpatient treatment. ...
... Improve Performance Efficiency 3 [4], [17], [20] Increase Communication Efficiency 8 [1], [5], [10], [12], [18], [20], [30], [29] Empower Patients 3 [4], [11], [13] Simplify Data/Information Collection 4 [3], [12], [16], [26] Improve Healthcare Education 3 [5], [18], [19] Allow Patient Self-Monitoring 7 [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [17] smartphones have significantly reduced the number of money patients spend. For example, patients can now have a consultation with their doctors from a distant place without spending their money on travel. ...
... Despite the widespread availability of health-related applications, the widespread mobile devices use, and the urgent need to reduce and eliminate healthcare-associated infections (HAI), few support applications have been identified in HAI Prevention, but which can reduce infections through easy access to manuals, hand hygiene monitoring, and a list of step-by-step procedures for reducing infection at point of care [3]. ...
... Global Observatory of the World Health Organization for e-Health defines mobile health (mHealth) as "a practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, digital personal assistants and other devices "wireless" [1]. Mobile applications can support the collection and dissemination of evidence to reduce HAI [3]. ...
... Study published in 2016 evaluated tuberculosis prevention and treatment applications and found they had features aimed at front-line healthcare professionals, and focused on tuberculosis information or in data collection [12]. In 2015 there were found 17 applications on health care infection prevention and control [3], and integrative review [13] on mobile applications developed for health in Brazil, met 27 published articles, between 2006 and 2013, none of them focused on precautions and isolations. Tortorella and Kinshuk [14] in 2017 described a contextaware learning system to reduce the transmission of pathogens directed towards the cleaning of the environment and surfaces, but did not address standard precautions and based on transmission routes. ...
... Despite the widespread availability of health-related applications, the widespread mobile devices use, and the urgent need to reduce and eliminate healthcare-associated infections (HAI), few support applications have been identified in HAI Prevention, but which can reduce infections through easy access to manuals, hand hygiene monitoring, and a list of step-by-step procedures for reducing infection at point of care [3]. ...
... Global Observatory of the World Health Organization for e-Health defines mobile health (mHealth) as "a practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, digital personal assistants and other devices "wireless" [1]. Mobile applications can support the collection and dissemination of evidence to reduce HAI [3]. ...
... Study published in 2016 evaluated tuberculosis prevention and treatment applications and found they had features aimed at front-line healthcare professionals, and focused on tuberculosis information or in data collection [12]. In 2015 there were found 17 applications on health care infection prevention and control [3], and integrative review [13] on mobile applications developed for health in Brazil, met 27 published articles, between 2006 and 2013, none of them focused on precautions and isolations. Tortorella and Kinshuk [14] in 2017 described a contextaware learning system to reduce the transmission of pathogens directed towards the cleaning of the environment and surfaces, but did not address standard precautions and based on transmission routes. ...
Decisions about precautions and isolations are performed by healthcare professionals based on manuals, through tables and texts, not always available at the point of care. For this reason, the use of mobile application software to aid in decision making during health care is increasing. This article describes m-health application on standard precautions and based on transmission routes development to support the decision of healthcare workers while providing patient care. It is an applied research of technological production, where it was carried out prototyping, content database elaboration, creation, development and system evaluation. m-health application, called Isolation App, provides information on precautions and isolation, personal protective equipment suitable for each type of precaution, hand hygiene guidelines and contains national and international links related to the subject. Application was evaluated by healthcare workers experts in infection control and prevention. Results suggest the prototype may support health professionals, facilitating decision making at the point of care.
... Reviews exist for identifying apps to support treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes and [17] chronic pain [16,18] as well as for the prevention, detection, and management of cancer and [20] depression [19]. We have conducted prior reviews assessing the prevention of infectious diseases such as health care-associated infection prevention [21] and HIV [22]. However, no studies have assessed available apps to support TB prevention or treatment. ...
... A data abstraction form (available upon request) was developed based on the app functionality criteria from the Institute for Healthcare Informatics report [12] and a prior app evaluation data abstraction process [21]. Each app was characterized for store availability (eg, Apple, Amazon), country developed, target end-users, cost to download, number of downloads, rating and number of reviewers contributing to the rating, date of last update, primary purpose, and any specific issues or features of apps (eg, audio function to read text, language options). ...
... Prior reviews of apps were not TB-specific, did not include a functionality score, or did not search for apps in the gray literature [20,21,[38][39][40][41][42]. An evaluation of HIV apps included an audit of formative patient-identified app function needs and preferences. ...
Background:
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health problem and is the leading killer due to a single infectious disease. Mobile health (mHealth)-based tools such as smartphone apps have been suggested as tools to support TB control efforts (eg, identification, contact tracing, case management including patient support).
Objective:
The purpose of this review was to identify and assess the functionalities of mobile apps focused on prevention and treatment of TB.
Methods:
We searched 3 online mobile app stores. Apps were included if they were focused on TB and were in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. For each included app, 11 functionalities were assessed (eg, inform, instruct, record), and searches were conducted to identify peer-review publications of rigorous testing of the available apps.
Results:
A total of 1332 potentially relevant apps were identified, with 24 meeting our inclusion criteria. All of the apps were free to download, but 7 required login and password and were developed for specific clinics, regional sites, or research studies. Targeted users were mainly clinicians (n=17); few (n=4) apps were patient focused. Most apps (n=17) had 4 or fewer functions out of 11 (range 1-6). The most common functionalities were inform and record (n=15). Although a number of apps were identified with various functionalities to support TB efforts, some had issues such as incorrect spelling and grammar, inconsistent responses to data entry, problems with crashing, or links to features that had no data. Of more concern, some apps provided potentially harmful information to patients, such as links to natural remedies for TB and natural healers. One-third of the apps (8/24) had not been updated for more than a year and may no longer be supported. Peer-reviewed publications were identified for only two of the included apps. In the gray literature (not found in the app stores), three TB-related apps were identified as in progress, being launched, or tested.
Conclusions:
Apps identified for TB prevention and treatment had minimal functionality, primarily targeted frontline health care workers, and focused on TB information (eg, general information, guidelines, and news) or data collection (eg, replace paper-based notification or tracking). Few apps were developed for use by patients and none were developed to support TB patient involvement and management in their care (eg, follow-up alerts/reminders, side effects monitoring) or improve interaction with their health care providers, limiting the potential of these apps to facilitate patient-centered care. Our evaluation shows that more refined work is needed to be done in the area of apps to support patients with active TB. Involving TB patients in treatment in the design of these apps is recommended.
... As one potential solution to this challenge, the mobile phone application (app) is one of the considerations with an innovative approach to attract and maintain attention, simple, helpful, quick access in clinical decisions (11,12), and encourage the participation of nurses as Health Care Workers (HCW) and patients in preventing HCAIs (13). Nearly all (89%) health professionals use mobile phone apps (14) to access medical information, clinical tools and maintain communication with patients (3,11,15,16). Recent research supported by other studies revealed mobile apps as an effective tool for transferring knowledge and decisions in nursing or clinical education. ...
... The existing reviews include a study from Schnall and Iribarren in 2015 that found 17 relevant apps for HCAIs prevention. However, this study is only limited to the app's function and potential, explored from three app stores: iTunes Store, Google Play Store Android, and Amazon Appstore (16). There is no information on implementing the app in health care settings and participant users. ...
Background & Aim: Prevention of healthcare-associated infections targets health workers. Considering the crucial role of nurses, potential applications of mobile phone-based interventions are innovative, attractive, and easily accessible. This study synthesizes mobile applications with the involvement of nurses or nursing students in outcomes to prevent healthcare-associated infections and their implications.
Methods & Materials: Systematic review, database searches included: SCOPUS, EBSCO MEDLINE, PubMed, ProQuest, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and SagePUb. Population involved nurses or nursing students with mobile-based interventions about healthcare-associated infectionsQuantitative design focused on publications between 2015-2021. Methodological quality applied the Cochrane and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute tools. Analysis used narrative synthesis.
Results: 11 studies met inclusion criteria from 1,792. Study populations were heterogeneous. Mobile phone interventions included: short message service (18.2%), (9.1%), mobile and computer access (18.2%), and iOs/Android-based (27.3%). healthcare-associated infections prevention focused on: surgical site infections (54.5%), central line-associated bloodstream infections (9.1%), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (9.1%), antimicrobials (9.1%), knowledge, attitude, and practice towards healthcare-associated infections (18.2%). Most bias risks were moderate to high. Participants showed positive responses. All studies described problems in implementing healthcare-associated infections applications. Five studies reported estimated cost savings.
Conclusion: Using mobile phone applications has involved nurses as researchers, participants, and intervention providers to patients. The impact is promising in preventing healthcare-associated infections. Response of user is influenced by technology familiarity, which involves interactive features and problem anticipation. This review showed significant cost savings, so stakeholders and future research plans can consider it.
... No entanto, seu uso em ambiente hospitalar pode tornar o aparelho celular um veículo potencialmente promissor para a transmissão cruzada de microrganismos 8,9 . No Brasil, um estudo realizado em um hospital de Recife encontrou contaminação bacteriana em 88% dos celulares de profissionais atuantes no setor do bloco cirúrgico 10 . ...
... Bacillus spp. , 2021 jul./set.; 14(3):635-642 -e-ISSN 2176-9206 DISCUSSÃO O telefone móvel é muito utilizado durante a jornada de trabalho e, devido ao avanço da tecnologia, o uso desses aparelhos em ambientes clínicos vem sendo considerado uma ferramenta muito promissora para apoiar os cuidados em saúde 7,9,17 . Sabendose dos riscos de contaminação cruzada através de instrumentos hospitalares e superfícies inanimadas, as IRAS vêm gerando cada vez mais preocupação para as instituições de saúde [2][3][4]18 . ...
Este trabalho se propõe a avaliar as características do celular por funcionários, estudantes e profissionais de saúde e investigar a relação com o número e tipo de microrganismos presentes no telefone. Foram coletados dados sociodemográficos e informações sobre o uso do celular, além da avaliação microbiológica dos telefones. Os dados foram analisados no SPSS, através de estatística descritiva das variáveis. Dos 50 participantes do estudo, 82% eram do sexo feminino, 96% usam o celular no trabalho e 70% realizavam algum tipo de assepsia. Referente à coleta microbiológica, houve crescimento bacteriano em 68% dos celulares, cuja bactéria mais isolada foi o Staphylococcus coagulase negativa (47%). Além disso, houve crescimento de mais de 100.000 UFC/mL nos celulares dos residentes (26,5%) e acadêmicos (23,5%). Conclui-se que o uso do celular durante a jornada de trabalho é frequente, o que pode haver relação com o número de aparelhos contaminados.
... The Global Observatory for eHealth of the World Health Organisation defines mHealth as "medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices, such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants, and other wireless devices" (World Health Organization, 2011). Users include corporations (Firth et al., 2016), health care professionals (Babine et al., 2018;Lee et al., 2018;Schnall R, 2015) and patients (Aboujaoude et al., 2015;Miloff et al., 2015;Sveen et al., 2015). ...
... These applications have the potential to be a powerful tool within healthcare services, particularly in understaffed areas (Liu et al., 2017;Zurovac D, 2011). Attempts have been made to implement these apps across a range of specialities (Aboujaoude et al., 2015;Dittrich F, 2020;Hartman DJ, 2015;Lee et al., 2018;Luxton et al., 2011;Miklowitz et al., 2012;Quwaider and Jararweh, 2016;Schnall R, 2015). However there is a chasm between the scientific and commercial faces of mHealth (De la Vega and Miró, 2014): It has been noted across hospital specialities that 'a low level of qualified professional involvement in app development and a lack of peer review after publishing remain' (Cheng et al., 2013). ...
Consumer-focused healthcare mobile applications have seen widespread adoption in recent years. Enterprise mobile applications in hospital settings have been slower to gain traction. In this study we examine the Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression: Inpatient version (DASA), a short-term risk assessment tool which is well validated and widely used in the prediction of violent incidents, within an inpatient forensic setting. The application was piloted over a period of three months, collecting 847 total DASA scores on 21 different patients. Time stamping allowed for accurate correlation between risk assessment scoring and the violent risk incidents. The internal validity of the app was measured using Cronbach’s alpha and was calculated at 0.798 indicating good internal validity. Using violent incidents as the dependent factor and the total DASA score as the independent factor, predictive validity of the app was calculated at 0.85, p=0.007. The use of this application in a forensic setting was successful with good internal and predictive validity. A major benefit of this form of data collection was the electronic time stamping so that the correlation between risk estimation and events could be more closely correlated. Deployment of such an application in a general hospital setting would bring its own challenges but would be useful in other types of risk assessment and screening tools.
... Les applications smartphone sont de plus en plus utilisées dans le domaine de la santé notamment pour le suivi de certaines maladies, pour conseiller les patients sur leur maladie ou comme outil de rappel (par exemple, notifications pour ne pas oublier de prendre un médicament) [235][236][237][238][239][240]. ...
... Diverses applications smartphone sont utilisées dans le domaine de la santé de nos jours [235][236][237][238][239][240]243,253]. La plupart du temps, ces applications aident à la gestion des maladies ou à mesurer des indicateurs de santé [240]. ...
Actuellement, l’asthme est la 1ère maladie professionnelle respiratoire. L’utilisation de produits de nettoyage et de désinfection est un facteur de risque émergent de l’asthme lié au travail, surtout dans le secteur de la santé. Cependant, les produits spécifiques en cause dans l’asthme restent à identifier. L’évaluation de l’exposition professionnelle aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection est difficile dans les études épidémiologiques. De plus, le biais du travailleur sain (HWE) est important à considérer dans les études épidémiologiques sur l’asthme lié au travail.L’objectif de la thèse comportait deux aspects : 1) un aspect méthodologique visant à améliorer l’évaluation des expositions professionnelles aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection en développant des méthodes novatrices ; 2) un aspect étiologique visant à estimer le rôle des expositions professionnelles dans le contrôle de l’asthme en prenant en compte un potentiel HWE.Tout d’abord, des matrices emplois-expositions (MEE) et emplois-tâches¬-expositions (METE) ont été développées via les données de femmes non-asthmatiques tirées au sort dans une cohorte prospective d’infirmières américaine (NHSII : Nurse’s Health Study II). Puis, une méthode d’évaluation des expositions professionnelles aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection utilisant une application smartphone scannant les codes-barres de produits et une base de données (BDD) a été développée. L’étude du rôle des expositions professionnelles aux produits de nettoyage et de désinfection dans le contrôle de l’asthme a été réalisée dans l’étude Épidémiologique des facteurs Génétiques et Environnementaux de l'Asthme disposant de données longitudinales détaillées sur l’histoire professionnelle et les phénotypes d’asthme. Afin de prendre en compte un potentiel HWE, un modèle marginal structural (MMS) a été appliqué.Une hétérogénéité de l’estimation des expositions par les MEE et METE était observée dans la plupart des métiers infirmiers, sauf pour les infirmières exerçant aux urgences et dans l’administration/la formation. Nous avons montré que la METE était plus adaptée que la MEE pour estimer les expositions, en particulier pour les métiers infirmiers ayant des tâches hétérogènes. Via l’application, 126 produits ont été recueillis auprès de 14 personnels hospitaliers de l’étude pilote, et des informations sur les composés étaient disponibles pour tous les produits via la BDD associée. Cette étude a montré que ce nouvel outil était simple à mettre en place, facile et rapide à utiliser pour les participants, et permettait d’évaluer de façon précise les expositions aux différentes substances. Ces résultats confirment la faisabilité et l’intérêt de cette méthode et suggèrent son déploiement dans les études épidémiologiques. Dans la partie étiologique, nous avons observé la présence d’un HWE dans notre échantillon d’étude. Malgré la prise en compte de ce HWE en utilisant un MMS, les résultats des associations ne permettaient pas de conclure sur le rôle des expositions professionnelles dans le contrôle de l’asthme.
... Although review articles of M-health apps are beginning to emerge, (e.g. [50,63] ) these also tend to have outcomes relevant to specialised medical practitioner audiences. Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). ...
... Like others (e.g. [35,48] ), Schnall and Iribarren [63] specifically call for collaboration between medical specialists and IS developers. ...
... Miah & Gammack 2016, Wollongong, Australia Design methodologies for m-health 3 (e.g. Schnall and Iribarren, 2015) these also tend to have outcomes relevant to specialised medical practitioner audiences. Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). ...
... Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). Schnall and Iribarren (2015) specifically call for collaboration between medical specialists and IS developers. ...
... Miah & Gammack 2016, Wollongong, Australia Design methodologies for m-health 3 (e.g. Schnall and Iribarren, 2015) these also tend to have outcomes relevant to specialised medical practitioner audiences. Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). ...
... Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). Schnall and Iribarren (2015) specifically call for collaboration between medical specialists and IS developers. ...
Whilst researchers and professionals recognize that M-health offers great opportunities, most existing work has comprised individual project-based developments in specialised areas. Existing review papers generally utilise medical literature and categories: none investigates M-health from an IS design point of view. Identifying application areas, design issues and IS research techniques will demonstrate models, issues, approaches and gaps to inform future research. A comprehensive analysis of up to date literature from this viewpoint is valuable, both for theoretical progression and for guiding real-world innovative developments. Drawing from key IS and multidisciplinary journals we analyse recent (2010-2016) articles concerning M-health application developments and their associated design or development issues. We identify eight application categories, ten design issues (security, privacy, literacy, accessibility, acceptability, reliability, usability, confidentiality, integrity and knowledge sharing) and the stakeholders and development techniques involved. The analysis suggests M-health is an emerging field to which design science is particularly appropriate.
... While this information is specific to the worldwide mobile phone market, these data support our rationale to use these 2 operating platforms in our review of mobile apps for both mobile phones and tablets. Previous reviews evaluating health-related mobile apps have also sourced apps solely from these 2 operating platforms [7,27,28]. ...
... This method was chosen following phone consultations with specialists at Apple Support and Google Play. This search method has also been used in other studies evaluating mobile apps in the areas of asthma [27], bipolar disorder [1,7], and health care-associated infection prevention [28]. The search terms were defined in consultation with experts in the field of childhood SSD and app specialists from Apple Support and Google Play. ...
Background
Although mobile apps are readily available for speech sound disorders (SSD), their validity has not been systematically evaluated. This evidence-based appraisal will critically review and synthesize current evidence on available therapy apps for use by children with SSD.
Objective
The main aims are to (1) identify the types of apps currently available for Android and iOS mobile phones and tablets, and (2) to critique their design features and content using a structured quality appraisal tool.
Methods
This protocol paper presents and justifies the methods used for a systematic review of mobile apps that provide intervention for use by children with SSD. The primary outcomes of interest are (1) engagement, (2) functionality, (3) aesthetics, (4) information quality, (5) subjective quality, and (6) perceived impact. Quality will be assessed by 2 certified practicing speech-language pathologists using a structured quality appraisal tool. Two app stores will be searched from the 2 largest operating platforms, Android and iOS. Systematic methods of knowledge synthesis shall include searching the app stores using a defined procedure, data extraction, and quality analysis.
Results
This search strategy shall enable us to determine how many SSD apps are available for Android and for iOS compatible mobile phones and tablets. It shall also identify the regions of the world responsible for the apps’ development, the content and the quality of offerings. Recommendations will be made for speech-language pathologists seeking to use mobile apps in their clinical practice.
Conclusions
This protocol provides a structured process for locating apps and appraising the quality, as the basis for evaluating their use in speech pathology for children in English-speaking nations.
... Miah & Gammack 2016, Wollongong, Australia Design methodologies for m-health 3 (e.g. Schnall and Iribarren, 2015) these also tend to have outcomes relevant to specialised medical practitioner audiences. Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). ...
... Despite several apps being available, both of these recent articles conclude that functionality is lacking and that there is a need for more relevant app development for the areas reviewed (iatrogenic infection and gout respectively). Schnall and Iribarren (2015) specifically call for collaboration between medical specialists and IS developers. ...
Whilst researchers and professionals recognize that M-health offers great opportunities, most existing
work has comprised individual project-based developments in specialised areas. Existing review
papers generally utilise medical literature and categories: none investigates M-health from an IS
design point of view. Identifying application areas, design issues and IS research techniques will
demonstrate models, issues, approaches and gaps to inform future research. A comprehensive analysis
of up to date literature from this viewpoint is valuable, both for theoretical progression and for guiding
real-world innovative developments.
Drawing from key IS and multidisciplinary journals we analyse recent (2010-2016) articles concerning
M-health application developments and their associated design or development issues. We identify
eight application categories, ten design issues (security, privacy, literacy, accessibility, acceptability,
reliability, usability, confidentiality, integrity and knowledge sharing) and the stakeholders and
development techniques involved. The analysis suggests M-health is an emerging field to which design
science is particularly appropriate.
... Third, there is no way of searching for apps simultaneously in several app stores [24]. In the present study, in order to mitigate these methodological challenges, apps were sought in three app stores (Google Play, Apple and Windows Stores) on 6 th August 2015 by means of a method, albeit not fully systematic, similar to that described by Schnall and Iribarren [25]. The following terms were searched for in each app store: prevention, prevent, prophylaxis, risk factor, risk factors, risk, risks, vaccination, vaccinations, vaccine, vaccines, health education. ...
... Similarly, most of our prevention-related search terms (such as prevention) were quite "general"; in such cases, for instance, Google Play yields a maximum of 250 apps and, therefore, some relevant lower-ranked apps may have been omitted. This limitation has also been previously reported [25]. In future research, it will be useful to select apps in a systematic way from a publicly available database. ...
Background:
A growing body of literature affirms the usefulness of mobile technologies, including mobile applications (apps), in the primary prevention field. The quality of health apps, which today number in the thousands, is a crucial parameter, as it may affect health-related decision-making and outcomes among app end-users. The mobile application rating scale (MARS) has recently been developed to evaluate the quality of such apps, and has shown good psychometric properties. Since there is no standardised tool for assessing the apps available in Italian app stores, the present study developed and validated an Italian version of MARS in apps targeting primary prevention.
Methods:
The original 23-item version of the MARS assesses mobile app quality in four objective quality dimensions (engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information) and one subjective dimension. Validation of this tool involved several steps; the universalist approach to achieving equivalence was adopted. Following two backward translations, a reconciled Italian version of MARS was produced and compared with the original scale. On the basis of sample size estimation, 48 apps from three major app stores were downloaded; the first 5 were used for piloting, while the remaining 43 were used in the main study in order to assess the psychometric properties of the scale. The apps were assessed by two raters, each working independently. The psychometric properties of the final version of the scale was assessed including the inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, convergent, divergent and concurrent validities.
Results:
The intralingual equivalence of the Italian version of the MARS was confirmed by the authors of the original scale. A total of 43 apps targeting primary prevention were tested. The MARS displayed acceptable psychometric properties. The MARS total score showed an excellent level of both inter-rater agreement (intra-class correlation coefficient of .96) and internal consistency (Cronbach's α of .90 and .91 for the two raters, respectively). Other types of validity, including convergent, divergent, discriminative, known-groups and scalability, were also established.
Conclusions:
The Italian version of MARS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the health-related primary prevention apps available in Italian app stores.
... Verificar las actualizaciones de las aplicaciones es otro factor que merece ser destacado, ya que pretende comprobar si la información contenida sigue estando al día 8 . Cabe destacar que la mayoría de las aplicaciones encontradas son de descarga gratuita, lo que las hace accesibles a usuarios de cualquier nivel social. ...
Objective
to identify mobile applications on intravenous therapy and prevention of catheter-associated bloodstream infection.
Method
technological prospection, with data search in Patent Bases and Virtual Stores, data collection occurred from May to August 2021. Inclusion criteria: mobile applications focused on Intravenous Therapy; mobile applications focused on the prevention of bloodstream infection. The analysis was carried out in a qualitative comparative way, recognizing the functions developed by the applications and their potential for use in clinical practice.
Results
19 applications were selected and organized into themes: applications to assist in catheterization; applications for catheter maintenance; applications on bloodstream infection prevention; and applications on diagnosis of catheter-associated bloodstream infection.
Conclusion
The identification of few apps on the theme serves to promote the construction of new apps.
DESCRIPTORS:
Mobile Applications; Information Technologies and Communication Projects; Catheterization; Patient Safety; Catheter-Related Infections
... Verificar as atualizações dos aplicativos é outro fator que merece destaque, pois tem em vista checar se as informações contidas ainda estão atualizadas 8 . Cabe destacar que grande parte dos aplicativos encontrados são gratuitos para download, o que os tornam acessíveis a usuários de qualquer nível social. ...
Objective
to identify mobile applications on intravenous therapy and prevention of catheter-associated bloodstream infection.
Method
technological prospection, with data search in Patent Bases and Virtual Stores, data collection occurred from May to August 2021. Inclusion criteria: mobile applications focused on Intravenous Therapy; mobile applications focused on the prevention of bloodstream infection. The analysis was carried out in a qualitative comparative way, recognizing the functions developed by the applications and their potential for use in clinical practice.
Results
19 applications were selected and organized into themes: applications to assist in catheterization; applications for catheter maintenance; applications on bloodstream infection prevention; and applications on diagnosis of catheter-associated bloodstream infection.
Conclusion
The identification of few apps on the theme serves to promote the construction of new apps.
DESCRIPTORS:
Mobile Applications; Information Technologies and Communication Projects; Catheterization; Patient Safety; Catheter-Related Infections
... Latin American countries, including Peru, have implemented diverse strategies using text messaging [20][21][22] as an accessible and useful low cost tool to promote compliance in patients. Studies involving mHealth reminders for health personnel hand hygiene have shown a positive impact on adherence in the short term, improving compliance and allowing the identification of barriers for implementation of recommendations [20,[22][23][24]. However, evidence in low-and middle-income countries and related to promote hand washing are scarce [12,25]. ...
Introduction:
We explore the limitations to adherence of hand-washing and evaluate the impact of a mHealth intervention for hand hygiene in residents.
Methodology:
We explore resident's perspectives about Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and hand washing. In baseline, participants completed socio-demographic characteristics and hand-washing habits survey. The intervention consisted of sending SMS three times a week for two months about hand hygiene and "five moments" for hand washing. The cultures of hands and cell phones were analyzed at baseline, 2 months and 4 months. We used chi-square and adjusted Generalized Estimating Equations.
Results:
Five physicians were interviewed and 33 participants were included for quantitative analysis. Critical barriers that hinder hand washing were identified. The proportion of Staphylococcus aureus in hands was 54.5% at baseline and was significantly reduced at 2 months follow-up (p = 0.009), but, benefit was lost when the intervention was discontinued; Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp. were observed in 22.2% of hands, no changes were noted with intervention. In cell phones, there was a tendency to lower values of bacterial colonization after intervention for Staphylococcus aureus growth.
Conclusions:
High prevalence of contamination in hands and phones in medical residents were found. Serious barriers to compliance with hand washing must be overcome. It is possible that prolonged or continuous interventions could be necessary to optimize hand washing and reduce hand and cell phones contamination.
... Applying the system on a larger group of people will be the next step to demonstrate its capability in reducing the spread of infectious diseases -which is beyond the scope of this paper. • Effect of the handwashing related apps on user behavior: Previous research shows that the smartphone applications helps to reduce health careâ€"associated infections (HAIs) in clinical context by providing easy access to the step-by-step and monitoring support (Schnall & Iribarren, 2015). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the smartwatch and wearable companies have started focusing on the handwashing related apps to improve the handwashing practice among users, which has been discussed in Section 6.1. ...
Washing hands properly and frequently is the simplest and most cost-effective interventions to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. People are often ignorant about proper handwashing in different situations and do not know if they wash hands properly. Smartwatches are found to be effective for assessing the quality of handwashing. However, the existing smartwatch based systems are not comprehensive enough in terms of achieving accuracy as well as reminding people to handwash and providing feedback to the user about the quality of handwashing. On-device processing is often required to provide real-time feedback to the user, and so it is important to develop a system that runs efficiently on low-resource devices like smartwatches. However, none of the existing systems for handwashing quality assessment are optimized for on-device processing. We present, a comprehensive system for quality assessment and context-aware reminders for handwashing with real-time feedback using smartwatches. is a hybrid deep neural network based system that is optimized for on-device processing to ensure high accuracy with minimal processing time and battery usage. Additionally, it is a context-aware system that detects when the user is entering home using a Bluetooth beacon and provides reminders to wash hands. also offers touch-free interaction between the user and the smartwatch that minimizes the risk of germ transmission. We collected a real-life dataset and conducted extensive evaluations to demonstrate the performance of. Compared to existing handwashing quality assessment systems, we achieve around 12% higher accuracy for quality assessment, as well as we reduce the processing time and battery usage by around 37% and 10%, respectively.
... Telemedicine, the use of technology to deliver health care remotely [5], shows promise in improving prevention and detection of SSIs. Medication adherence and patient outcomes have been shown to improve with interventions that include reminders [6]. In a survey querying patients' experiences with postoperative self-management of wounds after surgery, patients reported concern about the efficacy of self-monitoring and whether health care providers would be accessible if wound issues developed [7]. ...
Background:
The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program logs surgical site infections (SSIs) as the most common cause of unplanned postoperative readmission for a variety of surgical interventions. Hospitals are making significant efforts preoperatively and postoperatively to reduce SSIs and improve care. Telemedicine, defined as using remote technology to implement health care, has the potential to improve outcomes across a wide range of parameters, including reducing SSIs.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and user satisfaction of two automated messaging systems, EpxDecolonization and EpxWound, to improve perioperative care in a quality improvement project for patients undergoing total joint replacement.
Methods:
We designed two automated text messaging and calling systems named EpxDecolonization, which reminded patients of their preoperative decolonization protocol, and EpxWound, which monitored pain, wound, and fever status postoperatively. Daily patient responses were recorded and a post-usage survey was sent out to participants to assess satisfaction with the systems.
Results:
Over the 40-week study period, 638 and 642 patients were enrolled in EpxDecolonization (a preoperative decolonization reminder) and EpxWound (a postoperative surgical site infection telemonitoring system), respectively. Patients could be enrolled in either or both EpxDecolonization and EpxWound, with the default option being dual enrollment. The proportion of sessions responded to was 85.2% for EpxDecolonization and 78.4% for EpxWound. Of the 1280 patients prescribed EpxWound and EpxDecolonization, 821 (64.14%) fully completed the postoperative system satisfaction survey. The median survey score (scale 1-9) was 9 for patient-rated overall care and 8 for whether the telemonitoring systems improved patient communication with providers. The majority of patients (69.0%, 566/821) indicated that the systems sent out an ideal number of messages (not too many, not too few).
Conclusions:
EpxDecolonization and EpxWound demonstrated high response rates and improved patient-rated communication with providers. These preliminary data suggest that these systems are well tolerated and potentially beneficial to both patients and providers. The systems have the potential to improve both patient satisfaction scores and compliance with preoperative protocols and postoperative wound monitoring. Future efforts will focus on testing the sensitivity and specificity of alerts generated by each system and on demonstrating the ability of these systems to improve clinical quality metrics with more authoritative data.
... Schnall et. al described current mobile phone technology and "apps" available in the setting of health careassociated infection prevention, but noted the need for further study dedicated to this topic (Schnall and Iribarren, 2015). At present, many mobile phone medical applications require payment for usage. ...
Objective: The Guide to Infection Control in the Hospital (Guide) is an open access resource produced by the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) to assist in the prevention of infection acquisition and transmission worldwide. A survey was distributed to 8055 current Guide users to understand their needs. Methods: The survey consisted of 48-questions regarding infection prevention and control (IPC) availability and needs. Dichotomous questions, Likert scale-type questions, and open-and closed-ended questions were used. Results: Respondents (n = 1121) from 194 countries and six WHO regions participated in the survey. 43% (488) identified as physicians. Personal protective equipment (PPE) availability, training, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing varied between regions. Only 11% of respondents from low-income countries reported consistent access to respiratory equipment, 12% to isolation gowns, 4% to negative pressure rooms or personnel trained in IPC, and 20% to antimicrobial resistance testing. This differed significantly to high and upper middle-income resource settings (p < 0.05). 80% of all respondents used smartphones or tablets at the workplace. Conclusions: This survey demonstrates varied access to IPC equipment and training between high and low-income settings worldwide. Our results demonstrated many respondents across all regions utilize mobile technology, providing opportunities for rapid distribution of resource specific, up-to-date IPC content.
... For example, existing off-the-shelf mHealth apps are often insufficient to meet the needs of health disparity populations because of a mismatch between user needs and system features and functions. 27 Beyond the CIT itself, user characteristics, such as cultural beliefs, preferences, and functional, digital, and health literacy, affect capacity and willingness to use and sustain engagement with technology-enabled interventions. 16,24 For instance, cultural beliefs, such as personalism and familism, among Latinos may suggest a preference for tailored content and social media-based interventions. ...
The digital divide related to consumer information technologies (CITs) has diminished, thus increasing the potential to use CITs to overcome barriers of access to health interventions as well as to deliver interventions situated in the context of daily lives. However, the evidence base regarding the use and impact of CIT-enabled interventions in health disparity populations lags behind that for the general population.
Literature and case examples are summarized to demonstrate the use of mHealth, telehealth, and social media as behavioral intervention platforms in health disparity populations, identify challenges to achieving their use, describe strategies for overcoming the challenges, and recommend future directions. The evidence base is emerging. However, challenges in design, implementation, and evaluation must be addressed for the promise to be fulfilled.
Future directions include (1) improved design methods, (2) enhanced research reporting, (3) advancement of multilevel interventions, (4) rigorous evaluation, (5) efforts to address privacy concerns, and (6) inclusive design and implementation decisions.
... There is no doubt that mobile phone apps may be useful in the clinical management of several diseases. The apps can be a data resource, self-assessment tool or communication portal to a healthcare provider or support group [2]. As a treatment application, the modification of behaviors after obtaining knowledge from a mobile phone app may be possible. ...
... (HCMA) Nowadays, the increasing number of mobile devices associated with health care mobile application shows that it is now a popular tool as people around the world find it interesting. The estimated number of health care applications released in the market is more than 40,000 [17]. Mobile health care is a subset of eHealth, which has been defended by Free C., et. ...
Health Care Mobile Application (HCMA) is a popular mobile application which is nowadays used to assist in the treatment of symptoms for patients in primary healthcare. Appropriate development processes, in terms of designing characteristics for the graphic user interface (GUI) is a hot topic for developers when involved with design. Graphics, color scheme, size, buttons, menu, navigational functions, and screen space are important points that need to be considered when designing an application. User characteristics such as age range is a main variable which directly affects user satisfaction and system acceptance. Therefore, it is important to determine how to develop appropriate GUI in HCMA for a variety of user characteristics simultaneously increasing user satisfaction. The aim of this study is to test five different layouts of the GUI, design level and elasticity of the GUI and depth level of smart phone screen. Numerous aspects of user satisfaction related to GUI will be illustrated. Based on the development of android operation system devices, satisfaction has been tested by statistical analysis to show which GUI-pattern is appropriately designed for each age range and which layout encourages or discourages the user in terms of satisfaction in the HCMA design.
... A range of infection prevention and control and antimicrobial-related apps are available for medical and other clinical staff [17][18][19][20], however, to our knowledge there is as yet no study exploring the usability of apps for patients specifically targeting infections and/or antimicrobial use. In addition, a UK Wellcome Trust report [21] has provided important insights into the perception of antimicrobial resistance by the general public in the United Kingdom; the report concluded that there is a problem with communicating issues around antimicrobial resistance and an urgent need to educate the public in this field. ...
Background:
Current advances in modern technology have enabled the development and utilization of electronic medical software apps for both mobile and desktop computing devices. A range of apps on a large variety of clinical conditions for patients and the public are available, but very few target antimicrobials or infections.
Objective:
We sought to explore the use of different antimicrobial information resources with a focus on electronic platforms, including apps for portable devices, by outpatients at two large, geographically distinct National Health Service (NHS) teaching hospital trusts in England. We wanted to determine whether there is demand for an evidence-based app for patients, to garner their perceptions around infections/antimicrobial prescribing, and to describe patients' experiences of their interactions with health care professionals in relation to this topic.
Methods:
A cross-sectional survey design was used to investigate aspects of antimicrobial prescribing and electronic devices experienced by patients at four hospitals in London and a teaching hospital in the East of England.
Results:
A total of 99 surveys were completed and analyzed. A total of 82% (80/98) of respondents had recently been prescribed antimicrobials; 87% (85/98) of respondents were prescribed an antimicrobial by a hospital doctor or through their general practitioner (GP) in primary care. Respondents wanted information on the etiology (42/65, 65%) and prevention and/or management (32/65, 49%) of their infections, with the infections reported being upper and lower respiratory tract, urinary tract, oral, and skin and soft tissue infections. All patients (92/92, 100%) desired specific information on the antimicrobial prescribed. Approximately half (52/95, 55%) stated it was "fine" for doctors to use a mobile phone/tablet computer during the consultation while 13% (12/95) did not support the idea of doctors accessing health care information in this way. Although only 30% (27/89) of respondents reported on the use of health care apps, 95% (81/85) offered information regarding aspects of antimicrobials or infections that could be provided through a tailored app for patients. Analysis of the comments revealed the following main global themes: knowledge, technology, and patient experience.
Conclusions:
The majority of respondents in our study wanted to have specific etiological and/or infection management advice. All required antimicrobial-related information. Also, most supported the use of electronic resources of information, including apps, by their doctors. While a minority of people currently use health apps, many feel that apps could be used to provide additional support/information related to infections and appropriate use of antimicrobials. In addition, we found that there is a need for health care professionals to engage with patients and help address common misconceptions around the generation of antimicrobial resistance.
... Currently, reviews of commercial mHealth apps exist to support patients undergoing bariatric surgery [13], those who are managing bipolar disorder [14], cancer [15], cardiovascular disorders [16], chronic pain [17,18], depression [19], diabetes [20], health care-associated infection prevention [21], human immunodeficiency virus [22,23], and schizophrenia [24]. A review has been conducted on published literature on mHealth apps for HF [25]; however, it did not include an evaluation of commercially available mHealth apps. ...
Background:
Heart failure is the most common cause of hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries and these hospitalizations are often driven by exacerbations in common heart failure symptoms. Patient collaboration with health care providers and decision making is a core component of increasing symptom monitoring and decreasing hospital use. Mobile phone apps offer a potentially cost-effective solution for symptom monitoring and self-care management at the point of need.
Objective:
The purpose of this review of commercially available apps was to identify and assess the functionalities of patient-facing mobile health apps targeted toward supporting heart failure symptom monitoring and self-care management.
Methods:
We searched 3 Web-based mobile app stores using multiple terms and combinations (eg, "heart failure," "cardiology," "heart failure and self-management"). Apps meeting inclusion criteria were evaluated using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS), IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics functionality scores, and Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) guidelines for nonpharmacologic management. Apps were downloaded and assessed independently by 2-4 reviewers, interclass correlations between reviewers were calculated, and consensus was met by discussion.
Results:
Of 3636 potentially relevant apps searched, 34 met inclusion criteria. Most apps were excluded because they were unrelated to heart failure, not in English or Spanish, or were games. Interrater reliability between reviewers was high. AskMD app had the highest average MARS total (4.9/5). More than half of the apps (23/34, 68%) had acceptable MARS scores (>3.0). Heart Failure Health Storylines (4.6) and AskMD (4.5) had the highest scores for behavior change. Factoring MARS, functionality, and HFSA guideline scores, the highest performing apps included Heart Failure Health Storylines, Symple, ContinuousCare Health App, WebMD, and AskMD. Peer-reviewed publications were identified for only 3 of the 34 apps.
Conclusions:
This review suggests that few apps meet prespecified criteria for quality, content, or functionality, highlighting the need for further refinement and mapping to evidence-based guidelines and room for overall quality improvement in heart failure symptom monitoring and self-care related apps.
... TO THE EDITOR-Previous studies in your journal [1][2][3] and others [4][5][6] have focused on the use of smartphone applications (apps) to help in the education and training of healthcare professionals (HCPs) around aspects of antimicrobial prescribing or stewardship (AMS). However, no studies have yet explored the availability of similar apps for patients or the public. ...
... Bilgi ile birlikte davranış değişikliğine yönelik müdahalelerinin gerekli olduğu bildirilmiştir (16). Şu anda bu alanda kullanılan programlar olsa da çoğunun rehberleri hatırlatmak amaçlı olduğu; müdahale eden, yönetime uyarılarda bulunan veri girilebilen, geri bildirim yapabilen programlarla mobil uygulamaların bu konuda faydalı olacağı düşünülmektedir (17). Bizim kullandığımız kontrol listesi kullanımı hatırlatıcı ve müdahale edici işlevi görmüştür. ...
Objective
to identify mobile applications on intravenous therapy and prevention of catheter-associated bloodstream infection.
Method
technological prospection, with data search in Patent Bases and Virtual Stores, data collection occurred from May to August 2021. Inclusion criteria: mobile applications focused on Intravenous Therapy; mobile applications focused on the prevention of bloodstream infection. The analysis was carried out in a qualitative comparative way, recognizing the functions developed by the applications and their potential for use in clinical practice.
Results
19 applications were selected and organized into themes: applications to assist in catheterization; applications for catheter maintenance; applications on bloodstream infection prevention; and applications on diagnosis of catheter-associated bloodstream infection.
Conclusion
The identification of few apps on the theme serves to promote the construction of new apps.
DESCRIPTORS:
Mobile Applications; Information Technologies and Communication Projects; Catheterization; Patient Safety; Catheter-Related Infections
The objective of this study was to identify available mobile applications regarding education for hand hygiene and their applicability as a resource for nurses and other healthcare professionals. The aim was to assess the quality of the mobile apps for education on hand hygiene for health professionals. A review of mobile apps available from Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Brazil was conducted. The World Health Organization recommendations and the Mobile Application Rating Scale for evaluating quality were used. Six applications were selected, only three presented gamification elements incorporated into the learning method and only two of them-SureWash Pocket and Give Me 5-used the international recommendations to improve hand hygiene compliance in a more substantial and interactive way. The mean quality total score for the five rated apps was 3.41, indicating poor to acceptable quality. SureWash Pocket was the only application that reached Mobile Application Rating Scale ≥4 in all dimensions. These mobile applications can be used as complementary alternatives in addition to other available education strategies to improve the standards of hand hygiene and change the behavior of health professionals.
Background
Mobile applications (apps) that facilitate the measurement of hand hygiene (HH) compliance rates by direct observation (DO) are widely available. Their usefulness for infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals has neither been recently reviewed nor formally assessed. A critical analysis of such apps is presented.
Methods
Mobile apps were identified from four sources: PubMed, Apple app store, Google Play app store, Google search engine. Individual apps were then evaluated against a novel scoring system using seven key criteria considered relevant for IPC professionals. These included availability, price, automated data analysis, training requirement, compliance measured against the World Health Organisation (WHO) 5 moments of HH, recent updates and average app store rating. For each criterion, possible scores ranged from zero to two, with a maximum available score of 14 per app.
Results
A total of 32 apps were identified of which 13 were suitable for analysis. Only 3 apps (19%) scored 12 or above. Twelve apps (92%) allowed compliance to be measured against the WHO 5 moments of HH. Five apps (38%) were completely free to use, seven apps (54%) allowed for automatic analysis and reporting of HH data and only six apps (46%) had high app store ratings.
Conclusions
The current mobile apps available for DO of HH generally scored poorly. In order to make these apps more useful to IPC professionals, they should be user-friendly and require less training prior to use. National IPC organisations should develop core standards for these apps to guide future development.
Objective
The study sought to identify smartphone apps that support hand hygiene practice and to assess their content, technical and functional features, and quality. A secondary objective was to make design and research recommendations for future apps.
Materials and Methods
We searched the UK Google Play and Apple App stores for hand hygiene smartphone apps aimed at adults. Information regarding content, technical and functional features was extracted and summarized. Two raters evaluated each app, using the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics functionality score and the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS).
Results
A total of 668 apps were identified, with 90 meeting the inclusion criteria. Most (96%) were free to download. The majority (78%) intended to educate or inform or remind users to hand wash (69%), using behavior change techniques such as personalization and prompting practice. Only 20% and 4% named a best practice guideline or had expert involvement in development, respectively. Innovative means of engagement were used in 42% (eg, virtual or augmented reality or geolocation-based reminders). Apps included an average of 2.4 out of 10 of the IMS functionality criteria (range, 0-8). The mean MARS score was 3.2 ± 0.5 out of 5, and 68% had a minimum acceptability score of 3. Two had been tested or trialed.
Conclusions
Although many hand hygiene apps exist, few provide content on best practice. Many did not meet the minimum acceptability criterion for quality or were formally trialed or tested. Research should assess the feasibility and effectiveness of hand hygiene apps (especially within healthcare settings), including when and how they “work.” We recommend that future apps to support hand hygiene practice are developed with infection prevention and control experts and align with best practice. Robust research is needed to determine which innovative methods of engagement create “sticky” apps.
Background
The increase in smartphone use and mobile health applications (apps) holds potential to use apps to reduce and detect healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in clinical practice.
Aim
To obtain an overview of available apps for HAI prevention, by selecting the clinically relevant apps and scoring functionality, quality and usefulness.
Methods
This scoping review of available apps in the iOS and Android app stores uses an in-house-developed tool (scraper https://holtder.github.io/talos) to systematically aggregate available apps relevant for HAI prevention. The apps are evaluated on functionality, assessed on quality using the “Mobile Application Rating Scale” (MARS), and assessed on potential use in clinical infection prevention.
Findings
Using the scraper with CDC HAI topics through 146 search terms resulted in 92,726 potentially relevant apps, of which 28 apps met the inclusion criteria. The majority of these apps have the functionality to inform (27 out of 28 apps) or to instruct (20/28). MARS scores for the 28 apps were high in the following domains: Functionality (4.19 out of 5), Aesthetics (3.49/5), and Information (3.74/5), with relatively low scores in Engagement (2.97/5), resulting in a good average score (3.57/5).
Conclusion
Low engagement scores restrict apps that intend to inform or instruct, possibly explained by the often-academic nature of development of these apps. Although the number of HAI prevention apps increased with 60% in 5 years, the proportion of clinically relevant apps is limited. The variation in HAI app quality and lack of user engagement, could be improved by co-creation and development in the clinical setting.
Introduction
In hospital care, urinary catheters are frequently used, causing a substantial risk for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). Patient awareness and evaluation of appropriateness of their catheter through mHealth could decrease these healthcare-associated infections. However, patient engagement via mHealth in infection prevention is still limited. Therefore, we describe the systematic development and usability evaluation of the mHealth intervention Participatient, to prevent CAUTI, aiming for optimal adoption of the app in the clinical setting.
Method
The CeHRes roadmap was used as development guideline, operationalizing phases for (1) contextual inquiry (observations and interviews), (2) value specification (interviews with probing) and (3) design in multiple steps and in co-creation with end-users. During phases 1 and 2, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen patients and three nurses. The design phase was combined with the minimum viable product development strategy, with a focus on early cyclic steps of prototyping.
Results
In phase 1, patients acknowledged the risks of catheter use. Patients in phase 2 valued endorsement of a mHealth application by healthcare workers and reported to own a smartphone. Both patients and nurses recognized the need for useful modules in the app besides catheter care. Based on the needs and values as found in phase 2, the Participation app was developed. Based on usability tests in phase 3, content, text size, plain language, and navigation structures were further amended, and images were added.
Conclusion
This study provides real-world insight in the developmental strategy for mHealth interventions by involving both patients and care providers. Development of an app using thorough needs-assessment provided understanding for its content and design. By developing an app providing patients with reliable information and daily checklists, we aim to provide a tailored tool for communication and awareness on catheter use for the whole ward, and a potential blueprint for mHealth development.
This chapter reveals the overview of mobile health systems; the adoption of mobile health systems; mobile health systems and patient monitoring; the overview of mobile health technology; the advanced issues of Electronic Health Record (EHR); and the challenges of EHR in global health care. Mobile health helps deliver the health care services with quality care, improved workflow, and increased patient interaction while minimizing complexity and cost to achieve the desired goals in health care settings. EHR systems are the real-time and patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. The chapter argues that applying mobile health systems and EHR has the potential to improve health care efficiency and gain sustainable competitive advantage in global health care.
Background
We developed a mobile application of the protocol for preventing and managing catheter blockage among long-term indwelling catheter users for visiting nurses. We conducted meetings at four visiting nurse stations in Japan from May to June 2017 to explain the application to visiting nurses.
Objective
The purpose of the present study was to clarify issues related to the full-scale use of this protocol application, using data from focus group interviews with visiting nurses.
Methods
We conducted focus group interviews with the meeting participants. The focus group interviews were conducted at four different venues. Three focus groups had eight participants, and the fourth had two participants, for a total of 26 study participants. Specifically, the group interviews covered (1) the application’s structure and content; (2) operability; (3) portability; (4) possibilities for use, effects, and expectations; and (5) concerns about use.
Results
The results of the group interviews were classified into five categories: possibilities for the use of the mobile application, possibilities for further use of the application by nurses, suggestions for the use of the application by caregivers and nursing care workers, the burden associated with the use of the mobile application, and opinions and desires for improvements in the mobile application.
Conclusion
The results suggested that visiting nurses would use the mobile application. However, for full-scale use, it would be necessary to add the ability to use accumulated data, increase the number of learning screens, and take safety management measures for the transmission of medical information.
Introducció Les infeccions relacionades amb l'assistència sanitària (IRAS) són un important problema de salut pública degut a la seva elevada morbimortalitat, la prolongació de l' estada hospita-lària i l'augment dels costos sanitaris que comporten. Investigacions recents han identificat causes multi-factorials que contribueixen a l'increment de les taxes d'aquest tipus d'infeccions dins dels diferents contextos clínics. Aquests factors són els següents: ús inapropiat dels antibiòtics, saturació de pacients en els centres sanitaris, neteja inefectiva dels dispositius o contaminació durant la seva utilització, i baix compliment de la higiene de mans (HM) entre els professionals sanitaris 1. L'HM és la pedra angular en la reducció de la trans-missió dels microorganismes associats a aquest tipus d'infeccions i per a garantir la seguretat del pacient. Els mètodes més utilitzats per a mesurar-ne el compliment són l' observació directa del personal sanitari, el consum de productes per a l'HM, les dades que puguin aportar els professionals sanitaris sobre l'HM i les tecnologies de la informació i de la comunicació. L' observació directa continua essent la tècnica d'investigació més comuna, ja que permet recollir les dades segons la metodologia dels 5 moments que recomana l'Organització Mundial de la Salut (OMS). Segons aquesta organització, l' observació sostinguda en el temps contribueix a l'increment del compliment de l'HM. Actualment, la majoria dels professionals sanitaris dispo-sen de telèfon mòbil, que solen portar al damunt durant la jornada laboral. Aquest fet el converteix en una eina valuosa de suport a l'activitat assistencial en el punt d'atenció al pa-cient. Les aplicacions mòbils (apps) poden ajudar a reduir les IRAS; no obstant això, hi ha la preocupació que algunes d'aquestes apps puguin haver estat desenvolupades sense la fonamentació científica suficient que requereix un sistema de suport a la prestació de cures en l'atenció als pacients. En una publicació a la revista American Journal of Infection Control es va efectuar una revisió de 2.646 apps po-tencialment rellevants per a la prevenció de les IRAS, de les quals 17 aplicacions varen complir els criteris d'inclusió de l' estudi. D'aquestes 17, tan sols 2 aplicacions (11,8%) se cen-traven en el tema de l'HM 2. En una revisió recent efectuada pels autors del present article es varen detectar altres aplica-cions, la seva totalitat vinculades a institucions externes i en altres idiomes, amb la conseqüent dificultat que aquest fet representa per a la seva utilització. En la Taula 1 s' exposa un breu resum de les principals aplicacions actualment disponibles per a iOS i Android. La realitat és que a l'hospital no disposàvem d'una eina adequada a les necessitats del nostre entorn; per aquest motiu va sorgir la idea de dissenyar una aplicació pròpia, subvencionada amb pressupost íntegrament públic i apta per a qualsevol dispositiu i sistema operatiu. Precisament, una de les prioritats principals era que els professionals sanitaris poguessin treballar amb l'app des d'altres models de telèfons intel·ligents donat que, segons la investigació de mercat actual 3 , el sistema operatiu Android suposa el 80% de la quota de mercat. L'aplicació manSegures, que és com s'anomena l'aplica-ció que s'ha creat al nostre hospital, permet registrar, edi-tar i consultar les oportunitats en HM dels professionals, a temps real, durant l'atenció al pacient. Està directament en consonància amb el repte multimodal de l'OMS, segons el qual l' observació directa i el feedback immediat als professionals són les estratègies més efectives per a fomentar el compliment en HM 4. Es tracta d'una aplicació basada en el formulari obser-vacional de l'OMS i adaptada per a mòbils i tauletes. Es pot Disseny i implantació de l'aplicació mòbil manSegures: una eina per a la formació dels professionals sanitaris en el procediment de la higiene de mans
Importance
Hand hygiene adherence monitoring and feedback can reduce health care–acquired infections in hospitals. Few low-cost hand hygiene adherence monitoring tools exist in low-resource settings.
Objective
To pilot an open-source application for mobile devices and an interactive analytical dashboard for the collection and visualization of health care workers’ hand hygiene adherence data.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This prospective multicenter quality improvement study evaluated preintervention and postintervention adherence with the 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene, as suggested by the World Health Organization, among health care workers from April 23 to May 25, 2018. A novel data collection form, the Hand Hygiene Observation Tool, was developed in open-source software and used to measure adherence with hand hygiene guidelines among health care workers in the inpatient therapeutic feeding center and pediatric ward of Anka General Hospital, Anka, Nigeria, and the postoperative ward of Noma Children’s Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria. Qualitative data were analyzed throughout data collection and used for immediate feedback to staff. A more formal analysis of the data was conducted during October 2018.
Exposures
Multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy with increased availability and accessibility of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, staff training and education, and evaluation and feedback in near real-time.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Hand hygiene adherence before and after the intervention in 3 hospital wards, stratified by health care worker role, ward, and moment of hand hygiene.
Results
A total of 686 preintervention adherence observations and 673 postintervention adherence observations were conducted. After the intervention, overall hand hygiene adherence increased from 32.4% to 57.4%. Adherence increased in both wards in Anka General Hospital (inpatient therapeutic feeding center, 24.3% [54 of 222 moments] to 63.7% [163 of 256 moments]; P < .001; pediatric ward, 50.9% [132 of 259 moments] to 68.8% [135 of 196 moments]; P < .001). Adherence among nurses in Anka General Hospital also increased in both wards (inpatient therapeutic feeding center, 17.7% [28 of 158 moments] to 71.2% [79 of 111 moments]; P < .001; pediatric ward, 45.9% [68 of 148 moments] to 68.4% [78 of 114 moments]; P < .001). In Noma Children’s Hospital, the overall adherence increased from 17.6% (36 of 205 moments) to 39.8% (88 of 221 moments) (P < .001). Adherence among nurses in Noma Children’s Hospital increased from 11.5% (14 of 122 moments) to 61.4% (78 of 126 moments) (P < .001). Adherence among Noma Children’s Hospital physicians decreased from 34.2% (13 of 38 moments) to 8.6% (7 of 81 moments). Lowest overall adherence after the intervention occurred before patient contact (53.1% [85 of 160 moments]), before aseptic procedure (58.3% [21 of 36 moments]), and after touching a patient’s surroundings (47.1% [124 of 263 moments]).
Conclusions and Relevance
This study suggests that tools for the collection and rapid visualization of hand hygiene adherence data are feasible in low-resource settings. The novel tool used in this study may contribute to comprehensive infection prevention and control strategies and strengthening of hand hygiene behavior among all health care workers in health care facilities in humanitarian and low-resource settings.
This chapter reveals the overview of mobile health systems; the adoption of mobile health systems; mobile health systems and patient monitoring; the overview of mobile health technology; the advanced issues of Electronic Health Record (EHR); and the challenges of EHR in global health care. Mobile health helps deliver the health care services with quality care, improved workflow, and increased patient interaction while minimizing complexity and cost to achieve the desired goals in health care settings. EHR systems are the real-time and patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. The chapter argues that applying mobile health systems and EHR has the potential to improve health care efficiency and gain sustainable competitive advantage in global health care.
Objective
Healthcare workers are highly exposed to various types of disinfectants and cleaning products. Assessment of exposure to these products remains a challenge. We aimed to investigate the feasibility of a method, based on a smartphone application and bar codes, to improve occupational exposure assessment among hospital/cleaning workers in epidemiological studies.
Methods
A database of disinfectants and cleaning products used in French hospitals, including their names, bar codes and composition, was developed using several sources: ProdHyBase (a database of disinfectants managed by hospital hygiene experts), and specific regulatory agencies and industrial websites. A smartphone application has been created to scan bar codes of products and fill a short questionnaire. The application was tested in a French hospital. The ease of use and the ability to record information through this new approach were estimated.
Results
The method was tested in a French hospital (7 units, 14 participants). Through the application, 126 records (one record referred to one product entered by one participant/unit) were registered, majority of which were liquids (55.5%) or sprays (23.8%); 20.6% were used to clean surfaces and 15.9% to clean toilets. Workers used mostly products with alcohol and quaternary ammonium compounds (>90% with weekly use), followed by hypochlorite bleach and hydrogen peroxide (28.6%). For most records, information was available on the name (93.7%) and bar code (77.0%). Information on product compounds was available for all products and recorded in the database.
Conclusion
This innovative and easy-to-use method could help to improve the assessment of occupational exposure to disinfectants/cleaning products in epidemiological studies.
Background:
Health care-associated infections are a major worldwide public health issue. Hand hygiene is a major component in the prevention of pathogen transmission in hospitals, and hand hygiene adherence by health care workers is low in many studies. We report an intervention using text messages as reminders and feedback to improve hand hygiene adherence.
Materials and methods:
The study is a historical comparison proof-of-concept study. Eighteen health care workers were monitored during 12 months by a radiofrequency identification system. Afterward we sent 2 types of text messages, congratulation or encouragement, and we studied the evolution of hand hygiene adherence.
Results:
We recorded 15,723 hand hygiene opportunities, 8,973 before intervention and 6,750 during and after the intervention. Using a multilevel logistic regression analysis, we found a significant increase in hand hygiene adherence during the intervention (odds ratio, 1.68) compared with the historical period.
Discussion:
Despite limitations due to the type of study, a text message encouraging personnel to be more vigilant is effective in increasing hand hygiene adherence in health care workers.
Conclusions:
Text message feedback should be incorporated into multimodal approaches for improving hand hygiene compliance.
Background
Several studies have estimated the potential economic and social impact of the mHealth development. Considering the latest study by Institute for Healthcare Informatics, more than 165.000 apps of health and medicine are offered including all the stores from different platforms. Thus, the global mHealth market was an estimated $10.5 billion in 2014 and is expected to grow 33.5 percent annually between 2015 and 2020s. In fact, apps of Health have become the third-fastest growing category, only after games and utilities.
Methods
This study aims to identify, study and evaluate the role of interdisciplinary research teams in the development of articles and applications in the field of mHealth. It also aims to evaluate the impact that the development of mHealth has had on the health and computer science field, through the study of publications in specific databases for each area which have been published until nowadays.
Results
Interdisciplinary nature is strongly connected to the scientific quality of the journal in which the work is published. This way, there are significant differences in those works that are made up by an interdisciplinary research team because of they achieve to publish in journals with higher quartiles. There are already studies that warn of methodological deficits in some studies in mHealth, low accuracy and no reproducibility. Studies of low precision and poor reproducibility, coupled with the low evidence, provide low degrees of recommendation of the interventions targeted and therefore low applicability.
Conclusions
From the evidence of this study, working in interdisciplinary groups from different areas greatly enhances the quality of research work as well as the quality of the publications derived from its results.
Effective and rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnostics have the capability to revolutionize public healthcare both in developed and developing countries. One of the key challenges that is critical to address in developing POC devices is to effectively and sufficiently power them. In developing countries, where the electricity grid is not well established and the use of batteries is not cost-effective, power supplies are the most problematic issue for stand-alone and self-sustained POC devices. In this review, we provide an overview of techniques for powering POC diagnostic devices for use in both developed and developing countries, as well as detailed discussions of recent advancements in POC devices. Then, we discuss next-generation POC diagnostics and their power source strategies.
Background:
There is preliminary evidence that mobile health (mHealth) apps are feasible, attractive, and an effective platform for the creation of self-management tools for persons living with HIV (PLWH). As a foundation for the current study, we conducted formative research using focus groups, participatory design sessions, and usability evaluation methods to inform the development of a health management app for PLWH. The formative research resulted in identification of the following functional requirements of a mHealth app for self-management: (1) communication between providers and peers, (2) medication reminders, (3) medication log, (4) lab reports, (5) pharmacy information, (6) nutrition and fitness, (7) resources (eg, social services, substance use, video testimonials), (8) settings, and (9) search function.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to conduct an ecological review of the existing apps for PLWH and to compare the functionality of existing apps with the app specifications identified in our formative work.
Methods:
We searched two mobile app stores (Google Play and iTunes) and found a total of 5606 apps. We reviewed the apps, narrowed our search terms, and found a total of 112 apps. Of these, we excluded 97 (86.6%) apps that were either not in English (10/112, 8.9%), not HIV focused (32/112, 28.9%), or focused only on HIV prevention (2/112, 7.8%); targeted health care providers (26/112, 23.2%); provided information only on conference schedules and events (7/112, 6.3%), fundraisers (7/112, 6.3%), specific clinics (7/112, 6.3%), international or narrow local resources (3/112, 2.7%); or were identified in the first search but were no longer on the market at the next review (4/112, 3.6%). The 15 apps meeting inclusion criteria were then evaluated for inclusion of the nine functionalities identified in our earlier work.
Results:
Of the 15 apps that we included in our final review, none had all of the functionalities that were identified in our formative work. The apps that we identified included the following functionalities: communication with providers and/or peers (4/15, 27%), medication reminders (6/15, 40%), medication logs (7/15, 47%), lab reports (5/15, 33%), pharmacy information (4/15, 27%), resources (7/15, 47%), settings (11/15, 73%), and search function (6/15, 40%). No apps included nutrition or fitness information.
Conclusions:
Currently, there are only a small number of apps that have been designed for PLWH to manage their health. Of the apps that are currently available, none have all of the desired functionalities identified by PLWH and experts in our formative research. Findings from this work elucidate the need to develop and evaluate mobile apps that meet PLWH's desired functional specifications.
Mobile health (mHealth) technology can be a valuable tool in the management of chronic illnesses, including HIV. Qualitative research methods were used to identify the desired content and features of a mobile app for meeting and improving the healthcare needs of persons living with HIV (PLWH). We conducted six focus group sessions with 50 English-or Spanish-speaking PLWH in New York City. To inform data analysis and to illustrate how mHealth technology can be used as a persuasive strategy for improving the health of PLWH, we integrated Fogg’s functional role triad for computing technology model with the self-determination theory to illustrate how mHealth technology can be used as a persuasive strategy for improving the health of PLWH. Participants suggested several tools for meeting their healthcare needs, including: reminders/alerts, lab results tracking, and notes on health status. mHealth technology can function as a social actor by providing chat boxes/forums, testimonials of lived experiences, and personal outreach. Examples of media that can be used as a persuasive technology include games/virtual rewards, coding of health tasks, and simulations on how to connect with PLWH. Findings from these focus groups can be used to design a mobile app for PLWH that is targeted to meet their healthcare needs.
The rapid growth in the use of smartphones has opened a new world of opportunities for use in behavioral health care. Mobile phone software applications (apps) are available for a variety of useful tasks to include symptom assessment, psychoeducation, resource location, and tracking of treatment progress. The latest two-way communication functionality of smartphones also brings new capabilities for telemental health. There is very little information available, however, regarding the integration of smartphone and other mobile technology into care. In this paper, we provide an overview of smartphone use in behavioral health care and discuss options for integrating mobile technology into clinical practice. We also discuss limitations, practical issues, and recommendations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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.
With the advent of national health reform, millions more Americans are gaining access to a health care system that is struggling to provide high-quality care at reduced costs. The increasing adoption of electronic technologies is widely recognized as a key strategy for making health care more cost-effective. This article examines the concept of connected health as an overarching structure for telemedicine and telehealth, and it provides examples of its value to professionals as well as patients. Policy makers, academe, patient advocacy groups, and private-sector organizations need to create partnerships to rapidly test, evaluate, deploy, and pay for new care models that use telemedicine.
Over two decades of research has been conducted using mobile devices for health related behaviors yet many of these studies lack rigor. There are few evaluation frameworks for assessing the usability of mHealth, which is critical as the use of this technology proliferates. As the development of interventions using mobile technology increase, future work in this domain necessitates the use of a rigorous usability evaluation framework.
We used two exemplars to assess the appropriateness of the Health IT Usability Evaluation Model (Health-ITUEM) for evaluating the usability of mHealth technology. In the first exemplar, we conducted 6 focus group sessions to explore adolescents' use of mobile technology for meeting their health Information needs. In the second exemplar, we conducted 4 focus group sessions following an Ecological Momentary Assessment study in which 60 adolescents were given a smartphone with pre-installed health-related applications (apps).
We coded the focus group data using the 9 concepts of the Health-ITUEM: Error prevention, Completeness, Memorability, Information needs, Flexibility/Customizability, Learnability, Performance speed, Competency, Other outcomes. To develop a finer granularity of analysis, the nine concepts were broken into positive, negative, and neutral codes. A total of 27 codes were created. Two raters (R1 & R2) initially coded all text and a third rater (R3) reconciled coding discordance between raters R1 and R2.
A total of 133 codes were applied to Exemplar 1. In Exemplar 2 there were a total of 286 codes applied to 195 excerpts. Performance speed, Other outcomes, and Information needs were among the most frequently occurring codes.
Our two exemplars demonstrated the appropriateness and usefulness of the Health-ITUEM in evaluating mobile health technology. Further assessment of this framework with other study populations should consider whether Memorability and Error prevention are necessary to include when evaluating mHealth technology.
Creative use of new mobile and wearable health information and sensing technologies (mHealth) has the potential to reduce the cost of health care and improve well-being in numerous ways. These applications are being developed in a variety of domains, but rigorous research is needed to examine the potential, as well as the challenges, of utilizing mobile technologies to improve health outcomes. Currently, evidence is sparse for the efficacy of mHealth. Although these technologies may be appealing and seemingly innocuous, research is needed to assess when, where, and for whom mHealth devices, apps, and systems are efficacious. In order to outline an approach to evidence generation in the field of mHealth that would ensure research is conducted on a rigorous empirical and theoretic foundation, on August 16, 2011, researchers gathered for the mHealth Evidence Workshop at NIH. The current paper presents the results of the workshop. Although the discussions at the meeting were cross-cutting, the areas covered can be categorized broadly into three areas: (1) evaluating assessments; (2) evaluating interventions; and (3) reshaping evidence generation using mHealth. This paper brings these concepts together to describe current evaluation standards, discuss future possibilities, and set a grand goal for the emerging field of mHealth research.
Suicidal ideation is a risk factor for suicide attempt and completion. Cross-sectional or retrospective studies cannot capture the dynamic course and possible predictors of suicidal ideation as it occurs in daily life. This study utilizes an experience sampling paradigm to identify real-time predictors of suicidal ideation in inpatients with major depressive disorder. Thirty-one depressed patients admitted to a psychiatric unit were signaled by a mobile device to record suicidal ideation, affect, and other symptoms, multiple times a day over 1 week. Participants completed a total of 1350 questionnaires. Seventy-four percent of the sample reported suicidal ideation during the week. Time-lagged analyses revealed that momentary ratings of Sadness, Tension, and Boredom (as well as suicidal ideation itself) predicted subsequent suicidal thoughts in the following hours. Baseline severity of depression and past suicide attempts were both correlated with mean ideation severity during the week. A number of predictors identified in prior research (e.g. hopelessness) were unrelated to subsequent suicidal ideation in the current study. Momentary interventions that guide individuals through activities designed to reduce levels of Sadness, Tension, and Boredom in real-time (e.g., thought challenging, relaxation, behavioral activation) may be especially warranted.
Research electronic data capture (REDCap) is a novel workflow methodology and software solution designed for rapid development and deployment of electronic data capture tools to support clinical and translational research. We present: (1) a brief description of the REDCap metadata-driven software toolset; (2) detail concerning the capture and use of study-related metadata from scientific research teams; (3) measures of impact for REDCap; (4) details concerning a consortium network of domestic and international institutions collaborating on the project; and (5) strengths and limitations of the REDCap system. REDCap is currently supporting 286 translational research projects in a growing collaborative network including 27 active partner institutions.
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