Development, dissemination and evaluation of a smartphone-based app for pressure ulcer/injury prevention and treatment for use at the bedside

Abstract

After launching the 2019 International Pressure Ulcer/Injury Guideline, the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP), the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP) and the Pan Pacific Pressure Injury Alliance (PPPIA) collaborated with Sensorydata Corp., US, to develop a guideline app (InterPIP App). The app was designed to: present evidence-based guideline recommendations; incorporate search capacities and functionality to facilitate easy access to clinical guidance; provide accessibility in multiple languages; and to be available worldwide at a reasonable price, including opportunities for free access in low-resource countries. This paper describes the development, dissemination and formative evaluation of a mobile app providing evidence-based recommendations for pressure injury prevention, assessment/classification, and treatment at the point of care. An evaluation tool was designed based on a framework developed by Nouri et al. and made available to all app subscribers. The InterPIP App is currently available in 11 languages and had been downloaded 3616 times by February 2022 in 78 countries. A total of 62 individuals responded to the survey of end-users. In this formal evaluation of user experiences, the app was rated positively on criteria of: information/content; usability; design; functionality; ethics; and security/privacy (median=4 on a 1-5 Likert scale). Overall perceived value was ranked lower with a median of three. Users provided suggestions for ongoing app enhancement. The InterPIP App offers a unique opportunity to bring evidence-based guidance to the point of care. Formal evaluation of end-user experiences identified opportunities for quality improvement, and informed plans for future development and evaluation.