BackgroundThe proliferation of mobile health apps has greatly changed the way society accesses the health care industry. However, despite the widespread use of mobile health apps by patients in China, there has been little research that evaluates the effect of mobile health apps on patient experience during hospital visits.ObjectiveThe purpose of our study was to examine whether the use of mobile health apps improves patient experience and to find out the difference in patient experience between users and nonusers and the characteristics associated with the users of these apps.MethodsWe used the Chinese Outpatient Experience Questionnaire to survey patient experience. A sample of 300 outpatients was randomly selected from 3 comprehensive public hospitals (3 tertiary hospitals) in Hubei province, China. Each hospital randomly selected 50 respondents from mobile health app users and 50 from nonusers. A chi-square test was employed to compare the different categorical characteristics between mobile health app users and nonusers. A t test was used to test the significance in continuous variables between user scores and nonuser scores. Multiple linear regression was conducted to determine whether the use of mobile health apps during hospital visits was associated with patient experience.ResultsThe users and nonusers differed in age (χ22=12.2, P=.002), education (χ23=9.3, P=.03), living place (χ21=7.7, P=.006), and the need for specialists (χ24=11.0, P=.03). Compared with nonusers, mobile health app users in China were younger, better educated, living in urban areas, and had higher demands for specialists. In addition, mobile health app users gave significantly higher scores than nonusers in total patient experience scores (t298=3.919, P<.001), the 18 items and the 5 dimensions of physician-patient communication (t298=2.93, P=.004), health information (t298=3.556, P<.001), medical service fees (t298=3.991, P<.001), short-term outcome (t298=4.533, P<.001), and general satisfaction (t298=4.304, P<.001). Multiple linear regression results showed that the use of mobile health apps during hospital visits influenced patient experience (t289=3.143, P=.002). After controlling for other factors, it was shown that the use of mobile health apps increased the outpatient experience scores by 17.7%. Additional results from the study found that the self-rated health status (t289=3.746, P<.001) and monthly income of patients (t289=2.416, P=.02) influenced the patient experience as well.ConclusionsThe use of mobile health apps could improve patient experience, especially with regard to accessing health information, making physician-patient communication more convenient, ensuring transparency in medical charge, and ameliorating short-term outcomes. All of these may contribute to positive health outcomes. Therefore, we should encourage the adoption of mobile health apps in health care settings so as to improve patient experience.

ObjectiveThe purpose of our study is to develop a mental workload scale for physicians in China and assess the scale’s reliability and validity.DesignThe instrument was developed over three phases involving 396 physicians from different tiers of comprehensive public hospitals in China. In the first phase, an initial item pool was developed through a systematic literature review. The second phase consisted of two rounds of Delphi expert consultations and a pilot survey. The third phase tested the reliability and validity of the instrument.SettingPublic hospitals in China.ParticipantsA total of 396 physicians from different tiers of comprehensive public hospitals in China participated in this study in 2018.Primary and secondary outcome measuresCronbach’s α, content validity index, item-total score correlation coefficient, dimension-total score correlation coefficient and indices of confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsSix dimensions (mental demands, physical demands, temporal demands, perceived risk, frustration level and performance) and 12 items were identified in the instrument. For reliability, Cronbach’s α for the whole scale was 0.81. For validity, the corrected item-content validity index of each item ranged from 0.85 to 1, item-total score correlation coefficients ranged from 0.31 to 0.75, and the correlation coefficients between the dimensions and total score ranged from 0.37 to 0.72. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the goodness-of-fit indices of the scale were satisfactory.ConclusionThe instrument showed good reliability and validity, and it is useful for diagnosing the mental workload of physicians.

HighlightsOnly 1 in 11 men had initiated and 1 in 30 men had completed the HPV vaccine series.Immigrants from Indian subcontinent had the lowest HPV vaccination rates.Foreign-born men who reported US citizenship had higher rates of HPV vaccination rates.Foreign-born men had lower odds of having initiated the HPV vaccination compared with US-born men.

Background and Objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) sidedness is recognized as a prognostic factor for survival; left-sided colorectal cancer is associated with better outcomes than right-sided colon cancer (RsCC). We aimed to evaluate the influence of obesity on CRC sidedness and determine how race, age, and sex affect mortality among overweight and obese individuals.Methods: A survey-weighted analysis was conducted using data obtained from the National Inpatient Sample between 2016 and 2019.Results: Of the 24 549 patients with a diagnosis of CRC and a reported body mass index (BMI), 13.6% were overweight and 49.9% were obese. The race distribution was predominantly non-Hispanic Whites (69.7%), followed by Black (15.6%), Hispanic (8.7%), and other race (6.1%). Overweight (BMI: 25−29.9) and obese (BMI: ≥30) individuals were more likely to have RsCC