Görtz Magdalena, Wendeborn Antonia, Müller Michael, Hohenfellner Markus
Department of Urology, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Junior Clinical Cooperation Unit 'Multiparametric Methods for Early Detection of Prostate Cancer', German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Feb 25;11(5):682. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11050682.
Mobile eHealth apps are becoming increasingly important tools in healthcare management, capable of providing education and support at any time. There is little knowledge about surgical patients' appreciation and use of these apps. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a user-friendly medical app (PIA; Patient Information Assistant) for providing individual patient information before and after inpatient urological surgery. Twenty-two patients aged 35 to 75 years were provided with timely information, push notifications, and personalized agendas (e.g., date of presentation, time of surgery, time of doctor's consultation, imaging appointment) via the PIA app. Of the 22 patients, 19 evaluated the PIA app in terms of usage and usability, benefits, and potential for improvement. Of the study participants, 95% did not need any assistance to use the app, 74% confirmed that the PIA app made them feel better informed and more satisfied with their hospital stay, and 89% stated that they would like to re-use the PIA app and support the general use of medical apps in healthcare. Thus, we created an innovative digital health information tool, allowing targeted support for doctor-nurse-patient communication and offering great potential for patient support before and after surgery. Our study revealed that use of an app during the surgical hospital stay is readily accepted and benefits patients by acting as an additional informative tool.
移动电子健康应用程序正日益成为医疗管理中的重要工具，能够随时提供教育和支持。对于外科手术患者对这些应用程序的认知和使用情况，人们了解甚少。本研究的目的是开发并评估一款用户友好型医疗应用程序（PIA；患者信息助手），用于在住院泌尿外科手术前后为患者提供个性化信息。通过PIA应用程序，为22名年龄在35至75岁之间的患者提供了及时信息、推送通知和个性化日程安排（如就诊日期、手术时间、医生会诊时间、影像检查预约时间）。在这22名患者中，19名对PIA应用程序的使用情况、可用性、益处及改进潜力进行了评估。在研究参与者中，95%的人使用该应用程序时无需任何协助，74%的人确认PIA应用程序让他们对自身住院情况有了更充分的了解且更满意，89%的人表示他们愿意再次使用PIA应用程序，并支持医疗应用程序在医疗保健中的普遍使用。因此，我们创建了一个创新的数字健康信息工具，为医护患沟通提供有针对性的支持，并在手术前后为患者支持提供了巨大潜力。我们的研究表明，在外科住院期间使用应用程序很容易被接受，并且作为一种额外的信息工具对患者有益。
