HIMSS publishes mobile app evaluation guide

Source: ChartZoom.com

With so many available, it can be difficult sorting through libraries of mobile applications (apps) to find those that are useable, useful and appropriate for healthcare settings. To assist healthcare IT departments with mobile app selection and assessment, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) released a guide to evaluating app performance.

“While formal, professionally conducted, useability evaluations can provide in-depth product comparisons, they may not be a practical consideration for small- to medium-sized practices,” read the July 12 guide compiled by the HIMSS app useability work group.

Taking app design, function and useability into consideration, the HIMSS’ work group developed a three-step practice guide to app evaluation:

1. Consider practice goals and measurable objectives. Providers should ask themselves what they want to accomplish with a mobile app; is it intended improve the efficiency of prescription refill requests or to assist with patient education? Providers should use practice goals as a baseline measure for app evaluation and useability testing should be designed around those goals. 
2. Check other resources to supplement market app reviews. Publicly available medical app reviews can help guide the design of useability tests, but they should not influence independent assessment efforts. Similarly, IT departments should rely on colleagues’ knowledge of specific apps to pinpoint issues that a useability test can address. 
3. Assess the app’s useability with typical clinical scenarios. Develop a useability questionnaire with practice goals in mind, use multiple apps to perform the same task within clinical workflow, have users complete questionnaires after use and compare the results.

In addition to the steps listed above, the HIMSS app evaluation guide contains multiple resources, such as checklists, to help providers make the right app choice.

The complete guide is available here.