ABACUS: Developing a framework for evaluating mobile apps in healthcare

Abstract

The increasing use of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablet computers) and their associated applications (“apps”) provides new opportunities and chal lenges for healthcare providers, educators and students to integrate these new technologies into teaching and learning. Mobile apps used as part of healthcare education or decision-making should be usable, up-to-date and accurate, as any information used as part of healthcare decision-making may be “highstakes.” While the FDA is focusing regulation efforts on a small subset of mobile medical applications (e.g., those that act as medical devices), most apps are not regulated. Furthermore, the app marketplace is filled with hundreds of thousands of health and medical apps. To aid learners and users in determining which health and medical apps to use, this project establishes a p roposed f ramework fo r app evaluation. The ABACUS framework has been developed and made available online for users to access and utilize for self-learning in order to better appraise and assimilate medical and health apps. The use of the ABACUS framework p r o v i d e s a c o n t e x t u a l b a c k d r o p f o r understanding how technical and evidencebased factors contribute to whether an app should be used in health care or education. Further research and work is suggested to promote and analyze the effectiveness of this framework.