Objective The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the evidence regarding the effects of mobile health applications (mHealth apps) for self-management outcomes in patients with asthma and to assess the functionalities of effective interventions. Methods We systematically searched Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We included English-language studies that evaluated the effects of smartphone or tablet computer apps on self-management outcomes in asthmatic patients. The characteristics of these studies, effects of interventions, and features of mHealth apps were extracted. Results A total of 10 studies met all the inclusion criteria. Outcomes that were assessed in the included studies were categorized into three groups (clinical, patient-reported, and economic). mHealth apps improved asthma control (five studies) and lung function (two studies) from the clinical outcomes. From the patient-reported outcomes, quality of life (three studies) was statistically significantly improved, while there was no significant impact on self-efficacy scores (two studies). Effects on economic outcomes were equivocal, so that the number of visits (in two studies) and admission and hospitalization-relevant outcomes (in one study) statistically significantly improved; and in four other studies, these outcomes did not improve significantly. mHealth apps features were categorized into seven categories (inform, instruct, record, display, guide, remind/alert, and communicate). Eight of the 10 mHealth apps included more than one functionality. Nearly all interventions had the functionality of recording user-entered data and half of them had the functionality of providing educational information and reminders to patients. Conclusion Multifunctional mHealth apps have good potential in the control of asthma and in improving the quality of life in such patients compared with traditional interventions. Further studies are needed to identify the effectiveness of these interventions on outcomes related to medication adherence and costs.

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A growing capacity of information technologies in collection, storage and transmission of information in unprecedented amounts has produced significant problems about the availability of wide limit of the consumers of Electronic Health Records of Patients. With regard to the existence of many approaches to developing Electronic Health Records, the basic question is what kind of Model is suitable for the guarantee of the security of Electronic Health Records? The present study is a descriptive-comparative investigation conducted in Iran in 2007, along with comparisons made Electronic health records information security requirements of Australia, Canada, England and U.S.A with. The research was based on the study of texts such as articles, library's books and journals and reliable websites from 1992 to 2006. Based on the collected data, a primary Model was designed. The Delphi Technique was offered to evaluate the questionnaire and final Model was designed and proposed. Australia, Canada, England and U.S.A have requirements related to organizing information security, classifying and controlling information asset, security of human resources, environmental and physical security, Operational and communication management security, information access control security and development and Maintenance security of Electronic Health Records information systems. In the U.S.A, the above security requirements are presented in administrative, Physical and Technical safeguards. Based on the research findings, a comprehensive model of electronic health record security requirements in seven pivots is presented for Iran. This model is a collection of EHR security requirements from studied countries. The studied countries are solely subject to part of elements of this model. The suggested model is different from the ones used in other countries in some respects and is recommended for application in Iran.

Objective The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a smartphone-based application for improving self-management in patients with asthma and evaluate its effects on their knowledge. Methods In this applied research, based on the Clinical Practice Guideline and a systematic review, a questionnaire was designed to determine the application information content and functionality requirements by 15 pediatric and adult asthma and allergy specialist. Then the application was designed and developed using Adobe Air software on the Android operating system. Usability evaluation of the mobile application was performed using the standard questionnaire for user interaction satisfaction (QUIS), which completed by 30 patients with asthma, 8 information technology (IT) specialists, and 2 asthma and allergy specialists. Self-management knowledge of 30 asthma patients was measured using a researcher-made questionnaire before and after using the application. Results The number of specialists in the both Delphi rounds was 15 and the mean work experiences were 17.6 years. The most important elements for asthma self-management were avoiding exposure to allergen and triggers (96%), drug treatment (94.6%), and how to use the therapeutic tools (92.4%), and the most important functionalities were alerting the patients when they did not control asthma (92%), setting reminders for timely drug use (85.4%) and therapeutic tools (82.6%), recording prescription drugs (82.6%), and peak flow meter values (82%). Usability evaluation showed that 30 patients with asthma, 8 IT specialists, and 2 physicians evaluated the application at a “good” level. The mean score of the patients' knowledge before intervention was 2.43 ± 0.95 which after intervention was significantly increased to 4.3 ± 0.56 (p < 0.001). Conclusion Considering the desirable outcomes of application evaluation and a positive impact of this educational intervention on asthma patients' knowledge, it is possible to use mobile-based self-management programs to help these patients to manage illness and gain knowledge and self-management skills.