Selecting, appraising, recommending and using mobile applications (apps) in nursing

Abstract

It's more than likely that a patient, their family member or a colleague may have recently asked you “Is there an app for that?” Mobile technology is inescapable. It is pervasive in almost every aspect of daily life. Wherever we look, people are often hunched over and fully immersed by a small 6 x 3 inch screen, whether it be walking on the street, travelling on the bus, at the coffee shop or in the clinic waiting room. Mobile devices have infiltrated most aspects of our lives and offer quick, adaptive tech-based solutions to many previously administrative, repetitive or otherwise time-consuming tasks. Everyday tasks such as banking, planning a trip on public transport, maintaining a diary or reviewing the weather all easily accomplished for most, via their mobile device. At the beginning of 2017 more than 2.2 million apps were available to download to various iOS devices such as iPads, iPhones and iPods, and more than 2.6 million apps were available in the Google Play store, formerly known as the Android Market (Statista 2017a, b). Mobile applications in the ‘Health’ category are now prolific and wide ranging including popular apps such as the ‘Nursing Drug Handbook’, ‘Lark’, ‘Medscape’ and BUPA's ‘FoodSwitch’ App. It's likely you already make use of a few nursing-related mobile apps, and possibly have even made recommendations to patients about health-related apps in the past. Yet, what informed your decision to download or recommend to patients? This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.