A Mobile App to Improve Patient Management in Emergency Departments: Caregiver Needs Analysis, Design and Early Technology Acceptance Assessment

Abstract

Emergency care is very complex in that it requires patient-centered care in a coordinated manner among multiple providers in a highly distractible, unpredictable and stressful environment. Sharing information efficiently between providers in this context is difficult. Connecting emergency providers with each other through a digital communication channel could improve the efficiency of information sharing and emergency care. This study describes the development process of PIMPmyHospital, a mobile app dedicated to emergency department physicians and nurses to collaboratively manage their patients. We relied on a user-centered design process involving caregivers from a pediatric emergency department. The process started with semi-structured interviews that informed the specifications of the app, followed by an iterative design and development approach. The resulting prototype was evaluated by end-users using the perceived usefulness dimension of the technology acceptance model questionnaire. Early user engagement during the design and development of a dedicated mobile app must be taken into account to improve its perceived usefulness and future adoption.

Effectiveness of a Mobile App in Reducing Therapeutic Turnaround Time and Facilitating Communication between Caregivers in a Pediatric Emergency Department: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

“…Our preliminary results show that in addition to being well accepted by caregivers [ 26 ], an app, such as PIMPmyHospital, could fulfill this role. Its mobile nature, supported by push notifications on their smartphones, should allow caregivers to avoid sacrificing their time to seek laboratory results but to obtain them immediately upon release wherever they are at the point of care.…”

“…The app runs on Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems. Its design and visual aspect have already been published [ 26 ]. In brief, a start screen allows caregivers to have an automatically generated view centered on the patients under their care; hence, the origin of the app is the “Patients In My Pocket” solution, referring to phone pocket carriage ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…The logos at the bottom of the screen represent the possibility to also import and link documents to the conversion as well as to send voice memos. Adapted from [ 26 ].…”

“…Evidence demonstrating the impact of mobile apps tailored to caregivers and specifically dedicated to streamlining shared patient management in the EDs remains scarce [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. In a previous study [ 26 ], we described the user-centered development and high early technology acceptance of a mobile app—the ‘’Patients In My Pocket in my Hospital’’ (PIMPmyHospital) app. The app is designed to help ED caregivers automatically obtain relevant information about the patients they care for in real time, including laboratory and imaging results.…”

Effectiveness of a Mobile App (PIMPmyHospital) in Reducing Therapeutic Turnaround Times in an Emergency Department: Protocol for a Pre- and Posttest Study

“…Targeted interventions to reduce the postanalytical TAT phase may contribute to shortening ED-LOS, but mobile digital health solutions to achieve this goal are scarce. In a previous study [ 15 ], we described the user-centered development and early technology acceptance evaluation of a mobile app called “Patients In My Pocket in my Hospital” ( PIMPmyHospital ). The app was designed to help ED caregivers obtain relevant information in real time for the patients they care for, including laboratory and imaging results.…”