Feasibility of Integrating a Mobile Decision-Support App into a Multicomponent CME Initiative: Developing Clinician Competence at the Point of Care

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies such as smartphone applications are increasingly being adopted in the healthcare setting to support the delivery of evidence-based care. Given the approaching ubiquity of mHealth tools in medical practice, it is incumbent on the continuing medical education (CME) community to understand how these tools can be leveraged to develop clinician knowledge and competence, and how we can assess these educational outcomes. In this report, we describe our experience developing and incorporating a mobile decision-support tool into multiple activity formats within the European Immuno-Oncology Clinic Companion CME initiative.

PubMed4Hh: A Point-of-Care Mobile App for Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Support for Nurse Residents in Maryland

“…In this study, nurses used PubMed4Hh apps on their devices during meetings and at nursing stations, which is an encouraging behavior indicating their dedicated usage of scientific evidence in their practice. Point-of-care decision-support instruments provide real-world insights on the continuing medical education community 20 . Mobile health apps are beneficial for nurses to access relevant and credible health information.…”

“…19 The new generation of nurses has grown up with technology and is mobile health savvy and comfortable with smartphones; a mobile device can be utilized as a decision-making instrument. Mobile health (eg, smartphone applications [apps]) has become a growing field of innovation 20 and has many advantages for clinicians to access services anywhere at any time. The near ubiquity and adoption of information technology and data systems in healthcare and the steady growth of younger nurses entering the workforce mean that nurses, especially during periods of public health emergencies and crises, provide an optimal pool of potential users for evidence-based mobile health apps (eg, mental health support apps).…”

“…Point-of-care decision-support instruments provide real-world insights on the continuing medical education community. 20 Mobile health apps are beneficial for nurses to access relevant and credible health information. Nishimwe et al 34 found that mobile health apps as clinical decision-support instruments facilitated easy access to maternal and neonatal guidelines by nurses and midwives and improved quality care at the point of care.…”

Mobile-linked point-of-care diagnostics in community-based healthcare: A scoping review of user experiences

“…The studies presented evidence on user experiences of m-linked POC diagnostics. The included articles comprised two cross-sectional studies [24,25], two qualitative studies [26,27], a cohort study [28], three surveys [29][30][31], and one mixed method study [32].…”

“…Three studies were conducted in the United States of America (USA) [25,27,31], one in Ghana [26], one in South Africa [24], one in the United Kingdom (UK) [29], one in Australia [32], and one in Germany [30]. A cohort study by Jacobson et al (2020) also reported findings from the USA, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Portugal, India, and Argentina [28]. The m-linked POC diagnostic technology presented in the included studies was focused on the following diagnostics (Fig.…”