Mobile health applications for diabetes are developed like never before and many patients use them for their personalized health needs. With increased use, an increased number of usability evaluations are performed to assure that the applications function as intended. In this review the goal was to determine what usability methods are currently used in the evaluation of mobile health applications for diabetes and how these are used.
METHODS: A literature review was conducted to identify applicable studies in the databases ACM Digital Library, Cinahl and Pubmed between the years 2015 and 2020. After the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 32 articles remained that were included in the final review.
RESULTS: Most of the studies included one established usability engineering method such as an expert-based and/or user-based method or a validated questionnaire/instrument. Some also included a combination of these. Others used methods of their own design; commonly questionnaires and interviews either on their own or in combination.
CONCLUSION: To achieve an adequate level of evidence and quality in the evaluation, it is important that at least one is an established usability engineering method or a validated instrument. This to assure and continue to build the evidence base in this area.
We examined the efficacy of a remotely based occupational therapy intervention. A 40-year-old woman who suffered a stroke participated in a telerehabilitation program. The intervention method is based on virtual reality gaming to enhance the training experience and to facilitate the relearning processes. The results indicate that Virtual TeleRehab is an effective method for motivational, economical, and practical reasons by combining game-based rehabilitation in the home with weekly distance meetings. © 2011 European Federation for Medical Informatics. All rights reserved.
This follow-up survey on trends in Nursing Informatics (NI) was conducted by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Student and Emerging Professionals (SEP) group as a cross-sectional study in 2019. There were 455 responses from 24 countries. Based on the findings NI research is evolving rapidly. Current ten most common trends include: clinical quality measures, clinical decision support, big data, artificial intelligence, care coordination, education and competencies, patient safety, mobile health, description of nursing practices and evaluation of patient outcomes. The findings help support the efforts to efficiently use resources in the promotion of health care activities, to support the development of informatics education and to grow NI as a profession.
Memory bias, the tendency to rely on certain events over others, can become an issue in chronic illnesses, especially when symptoms are reported retrospectively. This paper examines a case where continuous symptom registration can be facilitated, memory supported, and memory bias reduced by introducing a mobile application. The aim of the paper is to report on the design of an app for collecting subjective data over an extended period to continuously follow children with periodic fever. The research approach is qualitative, building on interview data. The design method is co-design, a collaborative and participatory approach involving researchers, physicians and other key stakeholders, with focus on the views of the parents. We argue that collecting data continuously through an app moves the discussion from memory to the specific data points, which is illustrated through trends shown in the visualizations of the data. Moreover, we highlight the importance of systematically collecting data over an extended period through a data-driven approach to both forward clinical practice and research on complex, often chronic topics such as periodic fever, which is genuinely under-researched to date.
Physicians depend on access to accurate, up-to-date information and knowledge to make decisions and carry out their work. Today, access to online medical information has become easier than ever before. There is a stream of research interested in understanding how online health information intervenes and influences the patient-physician relationship. While many studies have focused on patients' online health information seeking, fewer studies have addressed how physicians seek and use online medical information. In this qualitative study, focus groups using clinical scenarios were conducted to examine why and when resident physicians turn to search engines like Google for medical information seeking at the point of care. The paper provides insights in physicians' perceptions and experiences of using digital tools for information seeking during patient consultations. Specifically, we identify and discuss information-seeking strategies of physicians during the patient consultation, contributing crucial knowledge for improving the quality of healthcare and patient outcomes.