A smartphone app designed to empower patients to contribute toward safer surgical care: community-based evaluation using a participatory approach.
Russ S, Latif Z, Hazell AL, et al. A Smartphone App Designed to Empower Patients to Contribute Toward Safer Surgical Care: Community-Based Evaluation Using a Participatory Approach. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019;8(1):e12859. doi:10.2196/12859.
Using a participatory action research approach, this study evaluated a smartphone app intended to empower surgical patients and caregivers to help optimize their care. Forty-two patients were enrolled in the study and they underwent a variety of different surgical procedures. Most patients felt that app was useful and informative (79%), was easy to use (74%) and helped participants to ask better questions (76%) and feel more involved in conversations about their care. However, almost half of participants (48%) were unsure about how the app could affect safety, citing that safety was the responsibility of the clinical staff alone rather than patients.