Abstract
Background: The global acceptance and use of technology in healthcare has resulted in an abundance of mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) available for use in the delivery and improvement of care. With so many apps available to patients and clinicians, it is important to understand how data from apps is being used to inform quality improvement in practice.
Aim: The aim of this integrative review is to establish current knowledge of how mHealth apps are used to produce data to inform quality improvement in healthcare.
Method: Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL and Medline Plus Full Text databases were searched for peer-reviewed papers written in English. The inclusion criteria comprised full text, empirical research studies relating to mobile health application use (not development) in clinical care.
Results: 19 studies met inclusion criteria. The functions of the apps outlined in the studies can be summarised into four different categories; communication, illness management, clinical management and education/information. The types of data collected by the apps included numerical, textual, photographic, and graphical with several apps able to collect a variety of data types. Analysis of the studies showed that although data collection is rarely outlined as the explicit purpose of mHealth apps, data collected through such technology is and can be used to inform practice change both in real-time and retrospectively.
Linking Evidence to Action: This review highlights while this is an emerging area, data obtained from mHealth apps can and is being used to inform quality improvement in healthcare. Further research is required in this area to adequately understand how data from mHealth apps can be used to produce quality improvement, specifically in relation to nursing. This review also highlights a need for the development of apps that aim to capture data to inform quality improvement, particularly from the patient perspective.
Aim: The aim of this integrative review is to establish current knowledge of how mHealth apps are used to produce data to inform quality improvement in healthcare.
Method: Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL and Medline Plus Full Text databases were searched for peer-reviewed papers written in English. The inclusion criteria comprised full text, empirical research studies relating to mobile health application use (not development) in clinical care.
Results: 19 studies met inclusion criteria. The functions of the apps outlined in the studies can be summarised into four different categories; communication, illness management, clinical management and education/information. The types of data collected by the apps included numerical, textual, photographic, and graphical with several apps able to collect a variety of data types. Analysis of the studies showed that although data collection is rarely outlined as the explicit purpose of mHealth apps, data collected through such technology is and can be used to inform practice change both in real-time and retrospectively.
Linking Evidence to Action: This review highlights while this is an emerging area, data obtained from mHealth apps can and is being used to inform quality improvement in healthcare. Further research is required in this area to adequately understand how data from mHealth apps can be used to produce quality improvement, specifically in relation to nursing. This review also highlights a need for the development of apps that aim to capture data to inform quality improvement, particularly from the patient perspective.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | WVN-18-079.R2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 70-77 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 24 Sept 2018 |
Keywords
- Nursing practice
- Quality improvement
- Quality of care
- Quality of service
- Technology
- Primary Health Care
- informatics
- Information Technology
- Evidence-based practice
- Descriptive analysis
- mHealth
- app
- data (or data collection)
- health care
- integrative review
