Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Feb 4, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 6, 2019 - Mar 25, 2019
Date Accepted: Jun 22, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Mobile Apps for Medication Management: Review and Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Pharmacotherapy remains one of the major interventional strategies in medicine. However, patients from all age groups and conditions face challenges when taking medications, such as integrating them into the daily routine, understanding their effects and side effects, monitoring outcomes, etc. In this context, a reliable medication management tool adaptable to patient’s needs becomes critical. Since most people have a smartphone, mobile apps offer a platform for such a personalized support tool available “on the go”.
Objective:
This study aims to provide an overview of available mobile applications, focusing on those that help patients understand and take their medications. We review the existing apps and provide suggestions for future development based on the concept “understand and manage”, instead of the conventional “adhere to medication”. This concept aims to engage and empower patients to be in charge of their health, as well as see medication as part of broader clinical approach, working simultaneously with other types of interventions or lifestyle changes, to achieve optimal outcomes.
Methods:
An online search was performed in the iOS Apple App Store and Android Google Play Store, using 4 search terms: medication management, pill reminder, medication health monitor and medication helper. Information was extracted from the app store descriptions for each included app and categorized into following characteristics: features, author affiliation, specialty, user interface, cost and user rating. In addition, google searches were conducted to find out more information about the author' s affiliation.
Results:
A total of 153 Android and 175 iOS apps were categorized. The majority of apps were developed by the software industry (73%); a minority were (co-)developed by health care professionals (15%) or academia (2%). The most prevalent specialty was diabetes (23 apps). Only 7 apps focused on mental health, but their content was highly comprehensive in terms of features and also had the highest prevalence of the education component. The most prevalent features were: reminder, symptom tracker, and ability to share data with a family member/doctor. Additionally, we highlighted features considered innovative, as well as listed practical suggestions for future development and innovations.
Conclusions:
We have identified detailed characteristics of existing apps, with the aim of informing future app development. Ultimately, the goal is to provide users with effective mobile health solutions, which can be expected to improve their engagement in the treatment process and long-term well-being. This study also highlights the need for improved standards for reporting on app stores. Furthermore, it underlines the need for a framework to offer health apps' users an ongoing evaluation of apps by health professionals in addition to other users, and to provide them with tools to easily select an appropriate and trustworthy app.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.