Evaluation of Patient Interest in Mobile Apps for Health-Related Education in Pharmacy Practice
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Abstract
Background: Pharmacists regularly provide health-related education to patients. The type of education varies from patient to patient and can include information such as drug indication, mechanism of action and purpose of therapy, drug interactions, side effects, proper administration, and disease-specific information. Pharmacists face a number of challenges in providing adequate health-related education to their patients. Information should be tailored to each patient. Topics can be complex and often require continual reinforcement. Appropriate time to devote to health-related education and resources available may be lacking. Despite these challenges, health-related education provided by a pharmacist has been proven to improve health outcomes. Mobile apps may help alleviate some challenges and provide a new method for pharmacists to provide health-related education. There is limited published information evaluating the utilization of mobile apps as educational tools for patients. Furthermore, desirable features and patient needs for health-related education via mobile technology remain largely unknown.
Objective: This IRB-approved study surveyed ambulatory patients regarding the use of a mobile app for patient education to (1) quantify patient interest, (2) determine desirable features and (3) determine if a relationship exists between patient variables and interest in an a mobile app for patient education.
Methods: Patients were recruited to complete a written survey. The survey comprised of 19 multiple-choice questions and one open-ended question for general comments. It was administered to consenting patients receiving care at pre-determined pharmacy-run ambulatory care clinics. To ensure a standardized baseline level of knowledge and provide a reference point for patients as a platform identifier, a laminated information card titled “What is an iPad©?†was provided to the patient after the patient’s knowledge of an iPad© was assessed. A sample size of 120 completed surveys was calculated in order to investigate the relationship between certain patient demographics and an interest in a mobile app. There are nine variables of interest: chronic disease state(s), perceived level of health, knowledge of an iPad©, types of technology used, age, sex, race/ethnicity, level of education, type of health insurance. Inferential statistics will be conducted using Chi-square for dichotomous variables. Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal Wallis will be used for ordinal data. Descriptive statistics will be reported for all parameters.
Results: Data collection and data analysis are currently in progress. A total of 24 surveys have been completed to date. Preliminary results show that a majority of respondents are interested in using a mobile app to understand medication information (62.5%) and would use an app recommended by a healthcare provider (75%). Information about medications and about health conditions was rated as the top two types of information respondents would find beneficial. Interactive tutorials, articles with text, and images and diagrams were the most common ways respondents indicated they would like information presented.
Conclusion: Preliminary results indicate patients are interested in using a mobile app for health-related education. This research will aid pharmacists to develop and test mobile apps as educational interventions and investigate their impact on health outcomes. Full results and data analysis will be presented at the Medicine 2.0’13 World Congress.
Objective: This IRB-approved study surveyed ambulatory patients regarding the use of a mobile app for patient education to (1) quantify patient interest, (2) determine desirable features and (3) determine if a relationship exists between patient variables and interest in an a mobile app for patient education.
Methods: Patients were recruited to complete a written survey. The survey comprised of 19 multiple-choice questions and one open-ended question for general comments. It was administered to consenting patients receiving care at pre-determined pharmacy-run ambulatory care clinics. To ensure a standardized baseline level of knowledge and provide a reference point for patients as a platform identifier, a laminated information card titled “What is an iPad©?†was provided to the patient after the patient’s knowledge of an iPad© was assessed. A sample size of 120 completed surveys was calculated in order to investigate the relationship between certain patient demographics and an interest in a mobile app. There are nine variables of interest: chronic disease state(s), perceived level of health, knowledge of an iPad©, types of technology used, age, sex, race/ethnicity, level of education, type of health insurance. Inferential statistics will be conducted using Chi-square for dichotomous variables. Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal Wallis will be used for ordinal data. Descriptive statistics will be reported for all parameters.
Results: Data collection and data analysis are currently in progress. A total of 24 surveys have been completed to date. Preliminary results show that a majority of respondents are interested in using a mobile app to understand medication information (62.5%) and would use an app recommended by a healthcare provider (75%). Information about medications and about health conditions was rated as the top two types of information respondents would find beneficial. Interactive tutorials, articles with text, and images and diagrams were the most common ways respondents indicated they would like information presented.
Conclusion: Preliminary results indicate patients are interested in using a mobile app for health-related education. This research will aid pharmacists to develop and test mobile apps as educational interventions and investigate their impact on health outcomes. Full results and data analysis will be presented at the Medicine 2.0’13 World Congress.
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