Smartphone App Use Among Medical Providers in ACGME Training Programs

BackgroundDespite high rates of smartphone ownership in psychiatric populations, there are very little data available characterizing smartphone use in individuals with mental illness. In particular, few studies have examined the interest and use of smartphones to support mental health.ObjectiveThis study aimed to (1) characterize general smartphone app and social media usage in an acute transdiagnostic psychiatric sample with high smartphone ownership, (2) characterize current engagement and interest in the use of smartphone apps to support mental health, and (3) test demographic and clinical predictors of smartphone use.MethodsThe survey was completed by all patients attending an adult partial hospital program, with no exclusion criteria. The primary outcomes were frequency of use of general and mental health smartphone apps (smartphone use survey) and the frequency of social media use and phone-checking behavior (mobile technology engagement scale).ResultsOverall, 322 patients (aged mean 33.49, SD 13.87 years; 57% female) reported that their most frequently used app functions were texting, email, and social media. Younger individuals reported more frequent use across most types of apps. Baseline depression and anxiety symptoms were not associated with the frequency of app use. Participants reported health care, calendar, and texting apps as most supportive of their mental health and social media apps as most negatively affecting their mental health. Most patients reported an interest in (73.9% [238/322]) and willingness to use (81.3% [262/322]) a smartphone app to monitor their mental health condition. Less than half (44%) of the patients currently had a mental health app downloaded on their smartphone, with mindfulness and meditation apps being the most common type.ConclusionsThe high interest in and willingness to use mental health apps, paired with the only moderate current reported usage, indicate a potential unmet treatment opportunity in psychiatric populations. There is potential to optimize non-mental health–specific apps to better support the needs of those with mental illness and to design a new wave of mental health apps that match the needs of these populations as well as the way they use smartphones in daily life.

BackgroundThere is anecdotal evidence that physiotherapy clinicians increasingly are using medical apps and health-related apps as part of their clinical practice, and in some cases, even ‘prescribing apps’ to patients. However, there is limited information on how South African physiotherapists use, and what they think about, the integration of mobile apps in their practice.ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe the use of smartphone apps as part of clinical practice in a small group of South African physiotherapists.MethodThis study made use of a cross-sectional, descriptive design and a self-administered questionnaire to survey practitioners. The population included all 1300 physiotherapists who were registered with the Orthopaedic Manipulative Physiotherapists Group (OMPTG) of the special interest group of the South African Society of Physiotherapists (SASP), with a sample of 270 out of 1300 who responded (response rate = 21%). Descriptive data are presented using graphs, figures and percentages, and responses to open-ended questions are included in support of the themes.ResultsThe majority of the participants used apps as part of their practice (60%) but did not prescribe apps to patients. Most apps are used for administrative and communication purposes. Even clinicians who used apps themselves expressed concerns about prescribing them to patients, and there were clear misconceptions about the use of apps.ConclusionMany clinicians in this study reported that there were real benefits to the use of smartphone apps as part of their practice. However, they raised concerns about the more general prescription of apps for clients.Clinical implicationsFurther research, education and collaboration amongst all stakeholders is necessary to produce guidelines for the use of apps in clinical practice

Objective To explore the current installation and use of smartphone APP in medical workers and to provide a basis for the proper use of smartphones for mobile learning and developing APPs for medical workers. Methods Totally 529 medical staffs were selected from two ClassⅢ hospitals in Beijing by simple random sampling from June to September 2018. These subjects were investigated with the self-designed questionnaire, which mainly included basic information, overall use of smartphone APP, use of various smartphone APPs, and conditions that a good APP should have. All the questionnaires were filled out by the subjects themselves. Results Totally 76.9% question naires were distributed, and 503 valid ones were collected. Totally 76.9% (387/503) of the medical workers used smartphones for 2 years, among whom 84.4% (425/503) had at least 6 APPs installed on their smartphones. The top 3 kinds of APPs were communication and information (98.6%, 496/503) , document readers (93.2%, 454/503) , and medicine-associated APPs (90.3%, 454/503) . Totally 22.9% (115/503) of the medical workers used APPs for 120 mins accumulatively every day, mostly when waiting for the bus, taking the bus, waiting for someone, or there was a difficult question that needed them to find some information. Conclusions Medical workers have made smartphone APPs a necessary tool for their work and life, especially in communication, learning and improving working efficiency. More APPs that are suitable for medical workers may be developed in the future, so they can improve the capability and efficiency of medical and nursing work by mobile micro-learning and micro-office. Key words: Medical staffs; Smartphone APP; Status quo

Intensive use of public transit plays an important role in commuting and daily travel in China and many other countries. With the widespread use of smartphones and other information and communication technologies, using mobile applications while on public transit has become increasingly popular, and more passengers rely on them during travel. To understand how the use of smartphone apps during transit travel and hedonic motivation can improve passengers’ willingness to use public transit, this study examines their combined effects. Smartphone apps used during transit travel can be classified into four categories: entertainment; information retrieval; e-ticketing; and mobile working. Drawing on complexity and configuration theories, we propose a theoretical model that is empirically tested using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. Based on an empirical study of 567 Shanghai residents, we present eight different combinations of the use of smartphone apps during transit travel and hedonic motivation that explain a high degree of public transit loyalty. These can be categorized into three types: (a) mobile working oriented; (b) hedonic motivation oriented; and (c) digital management oriented. The findings suggest that satisfaction and happiness with public transit are sufficient but not necessary conditions for public transit loyalty. If passengers use smartphone apps or experience hedonic motivation during public transit travel, their satisfaction and happiness levels are likely to increase. Overall, this paper provides insights to guide policymakers and public transit operators in considering more external factors that might improve passengers’ travel satisfaction, happiness, and loyalty.

BackgroundHealth care professionals are increasingly using smartphones in clinical care. Smartphone use can affect patient quality of care and clinical outcomes.ObjectiveThis scoping review aimed to describe how physicians use smartphones and mobile apps in clinical settings.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reported the results according to PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. We used the following databases in our literature search: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and gray literature for studies published since 2010. An additional search was also performed by scanning the reference lists of included studies. A narrative synthesis approach was used.ResultsA total of 10 studies, published between 2016 and 2021, were included in this review. Of these studies, 8 used surveys and 2 used surveys with focus group study designs to explore smartphone use, its adoption, experience of using it, and views on the use of smartphones among physicians. There were studies with only general practitioners (n=3), studies with only specialists (n=3), and studies with both general practitioners and specialists (n=4). Physicians use smartphones and mobile apps for communication (n=9), clinical decision-making (n=7), drug compendium (n=7), medical education and training (n=7), maintaining health records (n=4), managing time (n=4), and monitoring patients (n=2) in clinical practice. The Medscape medical app was frequently used for information gathering. WhatsApp, a nonmedical app, was commonly used for physician-patient communication. The commonly reported barriers were lack of regulatory oversight, privacy concerns, and limited Wi-Fi or internet access. The commonly reported facilitator was convenience and having access to evidence-based medicine, clinical decision-making support, and a wide array of apps.ConclusionsSmartphones and mobile apps were used for communication, medical education and training, clinical decision-making, and drug compendia in most studies. Although the benefits of smartphones and mobile apps for physicians at work were promising, there were concerns about patient privacy and confidentiality. Legislation is urgently needed to protect the liability of health care professionals using smartphones.

The use of smartphone applications by urology trainees

Nurse educators are exploring different mobile technologies to provide additional support to nursing students in clinical practice. However, the view of nursing students on the use of smartphone applications (apps) to enhance clinical education has not been explored. This proposed study will use a self-reported questionnaire to examine the opinions of nursing students on the current and potential use of smartphone apps when training in clinical settings. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be performed on the quantitative data. Qualitative data from open ended questions will be thematically analysed using the framework approach. This will be the first study to examine the use of smartphone apps as a support in clinical teaching from a students' perspective. Their opinion is vital if the right mobile technology is to be designed and implemented.

BackgroundLittle is known about “new media” use, defined as media content created or consumed on demand on an electronic device, by patients in emergency department (ED) settings. The application of this technology has the potential to enhance health care beyond the index visit.ObjectiveThe objectives are to determine the prevalence and characteristics of ED patients’ use of new media and to then define and identify the potential of new media to transcend health care barriers and improve the public’s health.MethodsFace-to-face, cross-sectional surveys in Spanish and English were given to 5,994 patients who were sequentially enrolled from July 12 to August 30, 2012. Data were collected from across a Southern Connecticut health care system’s 3 high-volume EDs for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 weeks. The EDs were part of an urban academic teaching hospital, an urban community hospital, and an academic affiliate hospital.ResultsA total of 5,994 (89% response rate) ED patients reported identical ownership of cell phones (85%, P<.001) and smartphones (51%, P<.001) that were used for calling (99%, P<.001). The older the patient, however, the less likely it was that the patient used the phone for texting (96% vs 16%, P<.001). Income was positively associated with smartphone ownership (P<.001) and the use of health apps (P>.05) and personal health records (P<.001). Ownership of iPhones compared to Android phones were similar (44% vs 45%, P<.05). Race and ethnicity played a significant role in texting and smartphone ownership, with Hispanics reporting the highest rates of 79% and 56%, respectively, followed by black non-Hispanics at 77% and 54%, respectively, and white non-Hispanics at 65% and 42%, respectively (P<.05).ConclusionsThere is a critical mass of ED patients who use new media. Older persons are less comfortable texting and using smartphone apps. Income status has a positive relationship with smartphone ownership and use of smartphone apps. Regardless of income, however, texting and ownership of smartphones was highest for Latinos and black non-Latinos. These findings have implications for expanding health care beyond the ED visit through the use of cell phones, smartphones, texting, the Internet, and health care apps to improve the health of the public.

The purpose of this study was to categorize subjective perceptions of smartphone app use among mothers with young children, derive characteristics of each perception type, and interpret the findings to determine appropriate smartphone use for each perception type. We applied the Q methodology to classify and analyze the types of perceptions of mothers with young children. Ultimately, we selected 40 Q samples by comprehensively analyzing in-depth interviews with mothers of young children and conducting reviews of literature related to smartphone app use. The P samples in the study consisted of 31 mothers. We performed data analysis using the QUANL program. The analysis identified four types of smartphone users: (1) “multi-adapters” who actively utilize functions, (2) “chaos dilemma” users who understand the disadvantages of smartphones but cannot refrain from using smartphone apps, (3) “time-killer dependent” users who utilize apps to relieve temporary stress and anxiety, and (4) “self-development focused users” who pursue positive changes. Based on these findings, we suggest ways in which mothers of young children can utilize smartphone apps in a developmental and appropriate manner.

BackgroundThe effectiveness of smartphone apps for weight loss is limited by the diversity of interventions that accompany such apps. This research extends the scope of previous systematic reviews by including 2 subgroup analyses based on nonmobile interventions that accompanied smartphone use and human-based versus passive behavioral interventions.ObjectiveThe primary objective of this study is to systematically review and perform a meta-analysis of studies that evaluated the effectiveness of smartphone apps on weight loss in the context of other interventions combined with app use. The secondary objective is to measure the impact of different mobile app features on weight loss and mobile app adherence.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant studies after an extensive search of the PubMed, MEDLINE, and EBSCO databases from inception to January 31, 2022. Gray literature, such as abstracts and conference proceedings, was included. Working independently, 2 investigators extracted the data from the articles, resolving disagreements by consensus. All randomized controlled trials that used smartphone apps in at least 1 arm for weight loss were included. The weight loss outcome was the change in weight from baseline to the 3- and 6-month periods for each arm. Net change estimates were pooled across the studies using random-effects models to compare the intervention group with the control group. The risk of bias was assessed independently by 2 authors using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for assessing the risk of bias in randomized trials.ResultsOverall, 34 studies were included that evaluated the use of a smartphone app in at least 1 arm. Compared with controls, the use of a smartphone app–based intervention showed a significant weight loss of –1.99 kg (95% CI –2.19 to –1.79 kg; I2=81%) at 3 months and –2.80 kg (95% CI –3.03 to –2.56 kg; I2=91%) at 6 months. In the subgroup analysis, based on the various intervention components that were added to the mobile app, the combination of the mobile app, tracker, and behavioral interventions showed a statistically significant weight loss of –2.09 kg (95% CI –2.32 to –1.86 kg; I2=91%) and –3.77 kg (95% CI –4.05 to –3.49 kg; I2=90%) at 3 and 6 months, respectively. When a behavioral intervention was present, only the combination of the mobile app with intensive behavior coaching or feedback by a human coach showed a statistically significant weight loss of –2.03 kg (95% CI –2.80 to –1.26 kg; I2=83%) and –2.63 kg (95% CI –2.97 to –2.29 kg; I2=91%) at 3 and 6 months, respectively. Neither the type nor the number of mobile app features was associated with weight loss.ConclusionsSmartphone apps have a role in weight loss management. Nevertheless, the human-based behavioral component remained key to higher weight loss results.

Discovering any performance degradation effect of racing swimmers' use of social media smartphone apps might lead to new training and race preparation protocols, including pre-meet smartphone avoidance. This study's objective was to analyze the performance effects of using smartphone social media apps on the 50, 100, and 200-m freestyle among 25 high-level swimmers. Each participant performed the three race distances in two conditions: with smartphone app exposure (50-MF, 100-MF, and 200-MF) and without (50-CON, 100-CON, and 200-CON). We randomized the order of these two conditions across participants. While smartphone app use was not associated with statistically significant performance differences on the shortest race (50CON versus 50MF), a repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant condition × time interaction for the swimmers'100-m freestyle performance (p = 0.01), with a significantly slower performance following smartphone app use evident in the last half of this race (p = 0.02) but not in the first half (p = 0.41). We also found a condition × time interaction in the same direction (slower for swimmers who used the smartphone app) for the 200-m freestyle performance (p = 0.01), with the slower performance occurring in the second (p = 0.01) but not the first (p = 0.91), third (p = 0.07) or fourth (p = 0.06) quarters of this race. Thus, prolonged smartphone social media app use was associated with reduced performance from elite swimmers on the 100- and 200- but not the 50-m freestyle.

Background: Smartphones and medical education apps are popular with and are widely used by medical students to facilitate peer interactions, communication and collaboration in addition to their “learn anywhere” advantage. Smartphone use by medical students has not been studied in the English-speaking Caribbean. Study objectives were to assess in preclinical students attending the University of the West Indies in Barbados, smartphone ownership, usage and attitudes toward use in medical education.Methods: First and second year preclinical medical students completed a self-administered paper-based questionnaire during the 2018–2019 academic year. Survey questions included sections on smartphone ownership, medical apps used, phone usage for education related tasks, and the perception on the usefulness of smartphones in medical education.Results: Of 112 participants (response rate 67.4%), 43% considered using the smartphone for medical education when acquiring it but 92% were currently using it for this purpose, with 80.3% (p &amp;lt; 0.01) specifically using it for learning anatomy. The majority of the students felt that the use of smartphones would improve their educational experiences (89.1%) (p &amp;lt; 0.01), be beneficial to medical faculty for teaching (84.8%) (p &amp;lt; 0.01), and could be more effectively used in medical education (50.9%) (p &amp;lt; 0.01). For information resources students used Medscape (67.9%) and Mayo Clinic (57.1%) and the most frequently used search engine was Google (95.5%). Most students (67.9%) used medical apps and 79.5% would buy more useful apps provided they were affordable. The popular apps were: ‘Teach me Anatomy’ (11.9%), ‘UpToDate’ (10.3%) and ‘Medscape’ (8.8%). Most students (66.1%) felt a Smart Campus should ensure e-learning platforms were compatible with smartphones and university policies regarding smartphone usage for academic purposes were needed.Conclusion: Findings show that smartphones and related medical education apps are widely used by medical students and improve their educational experiences. Universities should develop a policy regarding smartphone usage for academic purposes.

The adoption of mobile learning is known to enhance student performance through the use of mobile applications (apps), empowering them to take control of their learning experience. Students can confirm class exercise answers, and access supplemental content to name a few benefits of mobile learning. This study examines the current use of smartphone apps for learning purposes, of undergraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg (PMB Campus). In addition to exploring the use of apps, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used to explore the relationship between the students' perceived usefulness (PU), attitude to-wards the use (ATU), and perceived ease of use (PEOU) of smartphone apps for education, along with their behavior in employing smartphone apps. The quantitative method was used to gather data from 364 undergraduate students in different colleges, including Law and Management, Agriculture, Engineering and Science, and Humanities, at UKZN. Convenience sampling was used to personally distribute questionnaires. The results reveal that undergraduate students sometimes use smartphone apps to participate in learning activities. Perceived usefulness was found to have a higher positive impact on attitude in comparison to the impact of perceived ease of use.

The use of smartphones in clinical practice is steadily increasing with the availability of low cost/freely available "apps" that could be used to assess human gait. The primary aim of this manuscript is to test the concurrent validity of kinematic measures recorded by a smartphone application in comparison to a 3D motion capture system in the sagittal plane. The secondary aim was to develop a protocol for clinicians on the set up of the smartphone camera for video movement analysis. The sagittal plane knee angle was measured during heel strike and toe off events using the smart phone app and a 3D motion-capture system in 32 healthy subjects. Three trials were performed at near (2-m) and far (4-m) smartphone camera distances. The order of the distances was randomized. Regression analysis was performed to estimate the height of the camera based on either the subject's height or leg length. Absolute measurement errors were least during toe off (3.12 ± 5.44 degrees) compared to heel strike (5.81 ± 5.26 degrees). There were significant (p < 0.05) but moderate agreements between the application and 3D motion capture measures of knee angles. There were also no significant (p > 0.05) differences between the absolute measurement errors between the two camera positions. The measurement errors averaged between 3 - 5 degrees during toe off and heel strike events of the gait cycle. The use of smartphone apps can be a useful tool in the clinic for performing gait or human movement analysis. Further studies are needed to establish the accuracy in measuring movements of the upper extremity and trunk.

The effect of smartphones and mobile apps in Egyptian Emergency Departments: A cross-sectional study.