JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The widespread adoption of mobile and wearable devices and applications make it essential to assess their possible impact on the management of health and disease. Health care providers (HCP) are facing a new situation in their setting with the proliferation of mobile health (mHealth) intervention tests. Few studies have addressed the development of mHealth and the methodologies to manage these applications in a tertiary hospital.

Objective:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the mHealth projects implemented in the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona in order to increase the knowledge of the context in which they are used and to develop policies for the development of good practice in mHealth innovation

Methods:

We performed a prospective, descriptive cross-sectional study in a highly specialized university hospital with 850 beds for adults and a reference population of 520,000 inhabitants. A specific questionnaire was developed based on the MOHE-5D UE theoretical model to find mHealth projects. Apps, telemedicine and wearable devices were included in the systematic search. For that purpose, an a vertical (up to down) e-mail-based “snow ball“ process was carried out. Data was collected from February to December 2018 by personal interviews with HCP using a structured questionnaire.

Results:

During the study period 45 interviews were conducted and 35 mHealth initiatives were found; 25 targeted to patients and 10 to health professionals. Most (34) were in the software field (Apps and telemedicine initiatives), and one was wearable. Among the projects, 68.5% were classified as medical devices or at the “edge” of being. In relation to data protection, 27 managing personal data (77%) took into account data protection legislation. Only 13% of the initiatives had foreseen the use of interconnectivity standards. Most of the initiatives were funded by grants (14/35), sponsorships (5/35) or the Hospital itself (5/35). In terms of clinical management, most of the projects were developed in the field of research, followed by professional tools, clinical information and therapeutic education. Only six projects were involved with healthcare, with all being led by either the industry or small and medium enterprises.

Conclusions:

The results of the present study led to the design of a map of the mHealth projects carried out in our hospital showing the stages of development of the different ongoing projects. This will allow the mHealth projects to be monitored and help to construct tools to reinforce areas with detected deficiencies We can also conclude that our theoretical approach using a modified MOHE 5D-EU model is useful for analyzing the characteristics of mHealth projects.