Improving Internal Medicine Residents’ Colorectal Cancer Screening Knowledge Using a Smartphone App: Pilot Study

Abstract

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. About one in three adults in the United States is not getting the CRC screening as recommended. Internal medicine residents are deficient in CRC screening knowledge. Objective The objective of our study was to assess the improvement in internal medicine residents’ CRC screening knowledge via a pilot approach using a smartphone app. Methods We designed a questionnaire based on the CRC screening guidelines of the American Cancer Society, American College of Gastroenterology, and US Preventive Services Task Force. We emailed the questionnaire via a SurveyMonkey link to all the residents of an internal medicine department to assess their knowledge of CRC screening guidelines. Then we designed an educational intervention in the form of a smartphone app containing all the knowledge about the CRC screening guidelines. The residents were introduced to the app and asked to download it onto their smartphones. We repeated the survey to test for changes in the residents’ knowledge after publication of the smartphone app and compared the responses with the previous survey. We applied the Pearson chi-square test and the Fisher exact test to look for statistical significance. Results A total of 50 residents completed the first survey and 41 completed the second survey after publication of the app. Areas of CRC screening that showed statistically significant improvement ( P <.05) were age at which CRC screening was started in African Americans, preventive tests being ordered first, identification of CRC screening tests, identification of preventive and detection methods, following up positive tests with colonoscopy, follow-up after colonoscopy findings, and CRC surveillance in diseases. Conclusions In this modern era of smartphones and gadgets, developing a smartphone-based app or educational tool is a novel idea and can help improve residents’ knowledge about CRC screening.

Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Cancer-Related Knowledge, Beliefs, and Behaviors in Indiana

“…The percentages of respondents overall who answered those questions correctly was low, often near 50%. Frequent changes made to cancer screening guidelines has been shown to be a source of confusion for both the public and health care providers and likely contributed to these results (14)(15)(16). The need to increase awareness about when to initiate screening is clear, and ongoing campaigns for providers and the public may narrow this knowledge gap in the future.…”

Santé numérique et « cancer hors les murs », Big Data et intelligence artificielle

“…Cet accès facilité à l'information aide aussi l'oncologue dans sa pratique quotidienne : accès aux dernières avancées, aux référentiels thérapeutiques, aux algorithmes décisionnels, aux listes de médicaments et leur toxicité… [11]. Une étude pilote a ainsi montré le potentiel des applications smartphone pour améliorer la connaissance du dépistage du cancer colorectal chez des internes en médecine [12].…”

Improving cirrhosis care: The potential for telemedicine and mobile health technologies

“…Text message interventions have shown increases in screening rates for other cancers, including breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers[32]. Likewise, newly-developed smartphone applications aim to improve patient and provider education regarding screening for cancers, including colorectal and prostate cancer[33,34]. For the care of patients with liver disease, the implementation of the SCAN-ECHO program for chronic liver disease by the Ann Arbor Veterans Affair Healthcare System found marked improvement in the frequency of HCC screening (42% vs 25%) and variceal surveillance (25% vs 15%) in patients whose providers consulted virtually with a liver specialist, compared to those who had no consultation at all[15].…”