scholarly journals Automatic Work-Hours Recorder for Medical Staff (Staff Hours): Mobile App Development

10.2196/16063 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e16063
Author(s):  
Ting-Wei Chiang ◽  
Si-Yu Chen ◽  
Yuan-Chien Pan ◽  
Yu-Hsuan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Work Hours ◽  
Total Work ◽  
Overtime Work ◽  
Labor Regulations ◽  
App Development ◽  
Resident Physicians

Background There are numerous mobile apps for tracking work hours, but only a few of them record work hours automatically instead of relying on manual logging. No apps have been customized for medical staff, whose work schedules are highly complicated as they have both regular hours and on-call duties. Objective The specific aims of this study were to (1) identify the Staff Hours app users’ GPS-defined work hours, (2) examine the overtime work hours from the app-recorded total work hours and the participants’ self-reported scheduled work hours, and (3) compare these app-recorded total work hours among different occupations. Methods We developed an app, Staff Hours, to automatically calculate a user’s work hours via GPS background data. Users can enter their scheduled hours, including regular hours and on-call duties. The app automatically generates overtime reports by comparing the app-recorded total work hours with the user-defined scheduled hours. A total of 183 volunteers (60 females and 123 males; mean age 32.98 years, SD 6.74) were included in this study. Most of the participants (162/183, 88.5%) were medical staff, and their positions were resident physicians (n=89), visiting staff (n=38), medical students (n=10), registered nurses (n=25), and non–health care professionals (non-HCPs; n=21). Results The total work hours (mean 55.69 hours, SD 21.34) of the 183 participants were significantly higher than their scheduled work hours (mean 50.67 hours, SD 21.44; P=.01). Medical staff had significantly longer total work hours (mean 57.01 hours, SD 21.20) than non-HCPs (mean 45.48 hours, SD 20.08; P=.02). Residents (mean 60.38 hours, SD 18.67) had significantly longer work hours than visiting staff (mean 51.42 hours, SD 20.33; P=.03) and non-HCPs (mean 45.48 hours, SD 20.08; P=.004). Conclusions Staff Hours is the first automatic GPS location–based app designed for medical staff to track work hours and calculate overtime. For medical staff, this app could keep complete and accurate records of work hours in real time, reduce bias, and allow for better complying with labor regulations.

scholarly journals Automatic Work-Hours Recorder for Medical Staff (Staff Hours): Mobile App Development (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Wei Chiang ◽  
Si-Yu Chen ◽  
Yuan-Chien Pan ◽  
Yu-Hsuan Lin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Work Hours ◽  
Total Work ◽  
Overtime Work ◽  
Labor Regulations ◽  
App Development ◽  
Resident Physicians

BACKGROUND There are numerous mobile apps for tracking work hours, but only a few of them record work hours automatically instead of relying on manual logging. No apps have been customized for medical staff, whose work schedules are highly complicated as they have both regular hours and on-call duties. OBJECTIVE The specific aims of this study were to (1) identify the <i>Staff Hours</i> app users’ GPS-defined work hours, (2) examine the overtime work hours from the app-recorded total work hours and the participants’ self-reported scheduled work hours, and (3) compare these app-recorded total work hours among different occupations. METHODS We developed an app, <i>Staff Hours</i>, to automatically calculate a user’s work hours via GPS background data. Users can enter their scheduled hours, including regular hours and on-call duties. The app automatically generates overtime reports by comparing the app-recorded total work hours with the user-defined scheduled hours. A total of 183 volunteers (60 females and 123 males; mean age 32.98 years, SD 6.74) were included in this study. Most of the participants (162/183, 88.5%) were medical staff, and their positions were resident physicians (n=89), visiting staff (n=38), medical students (n=10), registered nurses (n=25), and non–health care professionals (non-HCPs; n=21). RESULTS The total work hours (mean 55.69 hours, SD 21.34) of the 183 participants were significantly higher than their scheduled work hours (mean 50.67 hours, SD 21.44; <i>P</i>=.01). Medical staff had significantly longer total work hours (mean 57.01 hours, SD 21.20) than non-HCPs (mean 45.48 hours, SD 20.08; <i>P</i>=.02). Residents (mean 60.38 hours, SD 18.67) had significantly longer work hours than visiting staff (mean 51.42 hours, SD 20.33; <i>P</i>=.03) and non-HCPs (mean 45.48 hours, SD 20.08; <i>P</i>=.004). CONCLUSIONS <i>Staff Hours</i> is the first automatic GPS location–based app designed for medical staff to track work hours and calculate overtime. For medical staff, this app could keep complete and accurate records of work hours in real time, reduce bias, and allow for better complying with labor regulations.

scholarly journals Quality of Mobile Apps for Care Partners of People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: Mobile App Rating Scale Evaluation (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole E Werner ◽  
Janetta C Brown ◽  
Priya Loganathar ◽  
Richard J Holden
Keyword(s):  
Rating Scale ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Future Research ◽  
App Development ◽  
Care Partners ◽  
Acceptable Quality ◽  
The Us ◽  
Google Play

BACKGROUND The over 11 million care partners in the US who provide care to people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) cite persistent and pervasive unmet needs related to all aspects of their caregiving role. The proliferation of mobile applications (apps) for care partners has potential to meet the care partners’ needs, but the quality of apps is unknown. OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to 1) evaluate the quality of publicly available apps for care partners of people living with ADRD and 2) identify design features of low- and high-quality apps to guide future research and app development. METHODS We searched the US Apple and Google Play app stores with the criteria that the app needed to be 1) available in US Google play or Apple app stores, 2) directly accessible to users “out of the box”, 3) primarily intended for use by an informal (family, friend) caregiver or caregivers of a person with dementia. The included apps were then evaluated using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), which includes descriptive app classification and rating using 23 items across five dimensions: engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information, and subjective quality. Next, we computed descriptive statistics for each rating. To identify recommendations for future research and app development, we categorized rater comments on the score driving factors for each item and what the app could have done to improve the score for that item. RESULTS We evaluated 17 apps (41% iOS only, 12% Android only, 47% both iOS and Android). We found that on average, the apps are of minimally acceptable quality. Although we identified apps above and below minimally acceptable quality, many apps had broken features and were rated as below acceptable for engagement and information. CONCLUSIONS Minimally acceptable quality is likely insufficient to meet care partner needs. Future research should establish minimum quality standards across dimensions for mobile apps for care partners. The design features of high-quality apps we identified in this research can provide the foundation for benchmarking those standards.

Comparison of Mobile Operating System Based on Development and Application

2013 ◽  
Vol 411-414 ◽  
pp. 420-424
Author(s):  
Qian Xing
Keyword(s):  
Operating System ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Market Mechanism ◽  
App Development ◽  
Development Technology ◽  
Model Device

With the popular of smart phone, mobile APPs have been developed largely. This paper, firstly introduces business model and market mechanism, then in terms of development technology, portal model, device set, platform integration, analyses mobile OS as well as influence on mobile APPs, at last gives a trend of mobile APP development.

scholarly journals Recommendations for Developing Support Tools With People Suffering From Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Co-Design and Pilot Testing of a Mobile Health Prototype

10.2196/16289 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. e16289
Author(s):  
Alan Davies ◽  
Julia Mueller ◽  
Jean Hennings ◽  
Ann-Louise Caress ◽  
Caroline Jay
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽  
Pulmonary Disease ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Chronic Obstructive ◽  
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽  
App Development

Background Gaps exist between developers, commissioners, and end users in terms of the perceived desirability of different features and functionalities of mobile apps. Objective The objective of this study was to co-design a prototype mobile app for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We present lessons learned and recommendations from working on a large project with various stakeholders to develop a mobile app for patients with COPD. Methods We adopted a user-centered, participatory approach to app development. Following a series of focus groups and interviews to capture requirements, we developed a prototype app designed to enable daily symptom recording (experience sampling). The prototype was tested in a usability study applying the think aloud protocol with people with COPD. It was then released via the Android app store, and experience sampling data and event data were captured to gather further usability data. Results A total of 5 people with COPD participated in the pilot study. Identified themes include familiarity with technology, appropriate levels for feeding back information, and usability issues such as manual dexterity. Moreover, 37 participants used the app over a 4-month period (median age 47 years). The symptoms most correlated to perceived well-being were tiredness (r=0.61; P<.001) and breathlessness (r=0.59; P<.001). Conclusions Design implications for COPD apps include the need for clearly labeled features (rather than relying on colors or symbols that require experience using smartphones), providing weather information, and using the same terminology as health care professionals (rather than simply lay terms). Target users, researchers, and developers should be involved at every stage of app development, using an iterative approach to build a prototype app, which should then be tested in controlled settings as well as in the wild (ie, when deployed and used in real-world settings) over longer periods.

scholarly journals The Mobile App Development and Assessment Guide (MAG): Delphi-Based Validity Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pere Llorens-Vernet ◽  
Jordi Miró
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
End Users ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Health Apps ◽  
App Development ◽  
Mobile Health Apps

BACKGROUND In recent years, there has been an exponential growth of mobile health (mHealth)–related apps. This has occurred in a somewhat unsupervised manner. Therefore, having a set of criteria that could be used by all stakeholders to guide the development process and the assessment of the quality of the apps is of most importance. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to study the validity of the Mobile App Development and Assessment Guide (MAG), a guide recently created to help stakeholders develop and assess mobile health apps. METHODS To conduct a validation process of the MAG, we used the Delphi method to reach a consensus among participating stakeholders. We identified 158 potential participants: 45 patients as potential end users, 41 health care professionals, and 72 developers. We sent participants an online survey and asked them to rate how important they considered each item in the guide to be on a scale from 0 to 10. Two rounds were enough to reach consensus. RESULTS In the first round, almost one-third (n=42) of those invited participated, and half of those (n=24) also participated in the second round. Most items in the guide were found to be important to a quality mHealth-related app; a total of 48 criteria were established as important. “Privacy,” “security,” and “usability” were the categories that included most of the important criteria. CONCLUSIONS The data supports the validity of the MAG. In addition, the findings identified the criteria that stakeholders consider to be most important. The MAG will help advance the field by providing developers, health care professionals, and end users with a valid guide so that they can develop and identify mHealth-related apps that are of quality.

scholarly journals The Mobile App Development and Assessment Guide (MAG): Delphi-Based Validity Study

10.2196/17760 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. e17760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pere Llorens-Vernet ◽  
Jordi Miró
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
End Users ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Health Apps ◽  
App Development ◽  
Mobile Health Apps

Background In recent years, there has been an exponential growth of mobile health (mHealth)–related apps. This has occurred in a somewhat unsupervised manner. Therefore, having a set of criteria that could be used by all stakeholders to guide the development process and the assessment of the quality of the apps is of most importance. Objective The aim of this paper is to study the validity of the Mobile App Development and Assessment Guide (MAG), a guide recently created to help stakeholders develop and assess mobile health apps. Methods To conduct a validation process of the MAG, we used the Delphi method to reach a consensus among participating stakeholders. We identified 158 potential participants: 45 patients as potential end users, 41 health care professionals, and 72 developers. We sent participants an online survey and asked them to rate how important they considered each item in the guide to be on a scale from 0 to 10. Two rounds were enough to reach consensus. Results In the first round, almost one-third (n=42) of those invited participated, and half of those (n=24) also participated in the second round. Most items in the guide were found to be important to a quality mHealth-related app; a total of 48 criteria were established as important. “Privacy,” “security,” and “usability” were the categories that included most of the important criteria. Conclusions The data supports the validity of the MAG. In addition, the findings identified the criteria that stakeholders consider to be most important. The MAG will help advance the field by providing developers, health care professionals, and end users with a valid guide so that they can develop and identify mHealth-related apps that are of quality.

scholarly journals Exploration of user�s perspectives and needs and design of a type 1 diabetes management mobile app: mixed-methods study (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiyu Zhang ◽  
Xia Li ◽  
Shuoming Luo ◽  
Chaoyuan Liu ◽  
Fang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Diabetes Management ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Diabetes Education ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Patient Questionnaires ◽  
App Design ◽  
Doctor Communication

BACKGROUND With the popularity of smart phones, mobile apps have great potential for the management of diabetes, but the effectiveness of current diabetes apps for T1DM is poor. No study has explored the reasons from the user’s perspective. OBJECTIVE To explore the perspectives and needs of T1DM patients and diabetes experts concerning diabetes app and to design a new T1DM management mobile app. METHODS A mixed methods design combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews was used to explore user needs and perspectives. Experts were surveyed at two diabetes conferences using paper questionnaires. T1DM patients were surveyed using Sojump on a network. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with adult T1DM patients or parents of child patients who had ever used diabetes apps. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and coded for theme identification. RESULTS The expert response rate was 63.5% (127/200). They thought that the reasons for app invalidity were that patients did not stick to using the app (76.4%, 97/127), little guidance was received from health care professionals (HCPs) (73.2%, 93/127), diabetes education knowledge was unsystematic (52.8% 67/127) and the app functions were incomplete (44.1%, 56/127). A total of 245 T1DM patient questionnaires were collected, of which 21.2% (52/245) of the respondents had used diabetes apps. The reasons for their reluctance to use an app were limited time (39%, 20/52), complicated operations (25%, 13/52), uselessness (25%, 13/52) and cost (25%, 13/52). Both the experts and patients thought that the most important functions of the app were patient-doctor communication and diabetes diary. Two themes that were useful for app design were identified from the interviews: (1) problems with patients’ diabetes self-management and (2) problems with current apps. Additionally, needs and suggestions for a diabetes app were obtained. CONCLUSIONS Patient-doctor communication is the most important function of a diabetes app. Apps should be integrated with HCPs rather than stand alone. We advocate that doctors follow up with their patients using diabetes app. Our user-centered method explored comprehensively and deeply why the effectiveness of current diabetes apps for T1DM was poor and what T1DM patients needed for a diabetes app, and provided meaningful guidance for app design.

scholarly journals Mobile Health Apps on COVID-19 Launched in the Early Days of the Pandemic: Content Analysis and Review

10.2196/19796 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. e19796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Chiau Ming ◽  
Noorazrina Untong ◽  
Nur Amalina Aliudin ◽  
Norliza Osili ◽  
Nurolaini Kifli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Home Monitoring ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
App Store ◽  
Online Consultation ◽  
Basic Features

Background Mobile health (mHealth) app use is a major concern because of the possible dissemination of misinformation that could harm the users. Particularly, it can be difficult for health care professionals to recommend a suitable app for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) education and self-monitoring purposes. Objective This study aims to analyze and evaluate the contents as well as features of COVID-19 mobile apps. The findings are instrumental in helping health care professionals to identify suitable mobile apps for COVID-19 self-monitoring and education. The results of the mobile apps’ assessment could potentially help mobile app developers improve or modify their existing mobile app designs to achieve optimal outcomes. Methods The search for the mHealth apps available in the android-based Play Store and the iOS-based App Store was conducted between April 18 and May 5, 2020. The region of the App Store where we performed the search was the United States, and a virtual private network app was used to locate and access COVID-19 mobile apps from all countries on the Google Play Store. The inclusion criteria were apps that are related to COVID-19 with no restriction in language type. The basic features assessment criteria used for comparison were the requirement for free subscription, internet connection, education or advisory content, size of the app, ability to export data, and automated data entry. The functionality of the apps was assessed according to knowledge (information on COVID-19), tracing or mapping of COVID-19 cases, home monitoring surveillance, online consultation with a health authority, and official apps run by health authorities. Results Of the 223 COVID-19–related mobile apps, only 30 (19.9%) found in the App Store and 28 (44.4%) in the Play Store matched the inclusion criteria. In the basic features assessment, most App Store (10/30, 33.3%) and Play Store (10/28, 35.7%) apps scored 4 out of 7 points. Meanwhile, the outcome of the functionality assessment for most App Store apps (13/30, 43.3%) was a score of 3 compared to android-based apps (10/28, 35.7%), which scored 2 (out of the maximum 5 points). Evaluation of the basic functions showed that 75.0% (n=36) of the 48 included mobile apps do not require a subscription, 56.3% (n=27) provide symptom advice, and 41.7% (n=20) have educational content. In terms of the specific functions, more than half of the included mobile apps are official mobile apps maintained by a health authority for COVID-19 information provision. Around 37.5% (n=18) and 31.3% (n=15) of the mobile apps have tracing or mapping and home monitoring surveillance functions, respectively, with only 17% (n=8) of the mobile apps equipped with an online consultation function. Conclusions Most iOS-based apps incorporate infographic mapping of COVID-19 cases, while most android-based apps incorporate home monitoring surveillance features instead of providing focused educational content on COVID-19. It is important to evaluate the contents and features of COVID-19 mobile apps to guide users in choosing a suitable mobile app based on their requirements.

scholarly journals Net Neutrality and Mobile App Innovation in Denmark and Netherlands 2010–2016

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-224
Author(s):  
Roslyn Layton
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Networks ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Net Neutrality ◽  
The European Union ◽  
App Development ◽  
The Us ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Net neutrality or “Open Internet” rulemaking has been ongoing for more than a decade. Some 50 nations have adopted formal rules including the US (then repealed), the European Union, India, and many countries in Latin America. Among other arguments, it is asserted that net neutrality rules are necessary for application innovation. While the focus for policymakers has largely been to make rules, there is less attention on how to measure the impact of such rules and how well they achieve their innovation goals. The article summaries a specific research investigation to what degree the introduction of rules in a given country stimulates innovation in that country’s mobile app ecosystem. The focus in on mobile networks because it allowed the most consistent data across countries. The study covered 53 countries, their net neutrality policies (or lack thereof), and the results to the respective mobile application ecosystems of the countries adopting rules between the period of 2010–2016. This investigation tests the proposition that countries which adopt net neutrality rules should experience an increase in mobile app development innovation within their national economy. To test this, a statistical methodology was developed based upon measuring the number of locally developed mobile apps in the country for relevant periods before and after rules are imposed and the corresponding app downloads, usage, and revenue. Measurement was conducted with two independent toolsets and adjusted for the sophistication and penetration of advanced mobile networks in the country. To make more meaningful comparisons and avoid inevitable heterogeneity across the countries, the investigation focuses on two similar countries with different rules, Denmark with soft rules (self-regulation) and Netherlands with hard rules (legislation). The study reviewed the leading theories of innovation as well as the foundational papers in net neutrality to explain the observed discrepancies. The research finds significant statistical support for “soft” net neutrality measures adopted on a voluntary basis. Hard rules adopted through legislation and regulation were not associated with greater mobile app development for the given country. Denmark increased in local mobile app development while Netherlands decreased. Additionally, the explosion of mobile apps from countries with no net neutrality rules and the general dearth of mobile apps from countries which have had hard rules for years runs counter to expected results. This suggests that policymakers revisit their assumptions and expectations for net neutrality policy.

scholarly journals Ramping Up Customer-Centric Modular Design Projects: Mobile App Development for Pandemic Relief

Systems ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Khaled Medini ◽  
Stefan Wiesner ◽  
Milad Poursoltan ◽  
David Romero
Keyword(s):  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Technology Infrastructure ◽  
Information Technology Infrastructure ◽  
App Development

Today’s fast-growing demands at the global level for mobile applications (apps) cause customers to call for the customization of their apps to fit their individualized needs and business realms. Customization is a challenge for apps-development companies when they want to satisfy their numerous users in a crowded competitive market. Moreover, pursuing customization involves additional challenges when ramping up app development projects in order to meet demands at a larger scale. To address this challenge, we proposed a framework to systematize and support mobile apps’ development consistently with a customer-driven approach and modular design philosophy. From a practical point of view, the proposed framework integrates quality function deployment (QFD), axiomatic design (AD) principles, and practices from the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) framework. The framework supports a systematic process for translating customer needs into design parameters as well as supporting prioritization of ITIL practices for further development. The effectiveness of the framework was explored in practice through a case study about an app supporting relief in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a survey among potential users. The assessment of the framework indicated an average score ranging between 3.58 and 3.92 in a five-point Likert scale for all of the items used in the survey.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document