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While an increasing number of Informal CareGivers (ICGs) are assisting their dependent loved ones with the daily living tasks and medical care, they are rarely considered in the medical devices design process. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics of ICGs impacting the use of the iHealth® Sense BP7 medical device, namely a connected wrist blood pressure monitor. For this purpose, user tests were conducted with 29 potential or actual ICGs. First, the participants filled out a socio-demographic questionnaire and then handled the blood pressure monitor. Finally, they completed the System Usability Scale questionnaire. The results revealed an impact of technophilia and age on usability dimensions. To conclude, the consideration of the ICG population in the design process of connected medical devices is discussed, particularly the age and level of technophilia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to review and analysis of the state of the art regarding triage applications (apps) for health emergencies. This research is based on a systematic review of the literature in scientific databases from 2010 to early 2021, following a prism methodology. In addition, a Google Play Store search of the triage apps found in the literature was performed for further evaluation. A total of 26 relevant papers were obtained for this study, of which 13 apps were identified. After searching for each of these apps in the Google Play Store platform, only 2 of them were obtained, and these were subsequently evaluated together with another app obtained from the link provided in the corresponding paper. In the analysis carried out, it was detected that from 2019 onwards there has been an increase in research interest in this area, since the papers obtained from this year onwards represent 38.5% of the relevant papers. This increase may be caused by the need for early selection of the most serious patients in such difficult times for the health service. According to the review carried out, an increase in mobile app research focused on Emergency Triage and a decrease in app studies for triage catastrophe have been identified. In this study it was also observed that despite the existence of many researches in this sense, only 3 apps contained in them are accessible. "TRIAGIST" does not allow the entry of an unidentified user, "Major Trauma Triage Tool" presents negative comments from users who have used it and "ESITriage" lacks updates to improve its performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the growth and adaptation of cryptographic features and capabilities were quickly extended to new and underexplored areas, such as healthcare. Currently, blockchain is being implemented mainly as a mechanism to secure Electronic Health Records (EHRs). However, new studies have shown that this technology can be a powerful tool in empowering patients to control their own health data, as well for enabling a fool-proof health data history and establishing medical responsibility. Additionally, with the proliferation of mobile health (m-Health) sustained on service-oriented architectures, the adaptation of blockchain mechanisms into m-Health applications creates the possibility for a more decentralized and available healthcare service. Hence, this paper presents a review of the current security best practices for m-Health and the most used and widely known implementations of the blockchain protocol, including blockchain technologies in m-Health. The main goal of this comprehensive review is to further discuss and elaborate on identified open-issues and potential use cases regarding the uses of blockchain in this area. Finally, the paper presents the major findings, challenges and advantages on future blockchain implementations for m-Health services and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a mobile health application (Self-Management mobile Personal Health Record: 'SmPHR') to ensure the interoperability of various personal health devices (PHDs) and electronic medical record systems (EMRs) for continuous self-management of chronic disease patients. The SmPHR was developed for Android 4.0.3, and implemented according to the optimized standard protocol for each interface of healthcare services adopted by the Continua Health Alliance (CHA). That is, the Personal Area Network (PAN) interface between the application and PHD implements ISO/IEEE 11073-20,601, 10,404, 10,407, 10,415, 10,417, and Bluetooth Health Device Profile (HDP), and EMRs with a wide area network (WAN) interface implement HL7 V2.6; the Health Record Network (HRN) interface implements Continuity of Care Document (CCD) and Continuity of Care Record (CCR). Also, for SmPHR, we evaluated the transmission error rate between the interface using four PHDs and personal health record systems (PHRs) from previous research, with 611 users and elderly people after receiving institutional review board (IRB) approval. In the evaluation, the PAN interface showed 15 (2.4 %) errors, and the WAN and HRN interface showed 13 (2.1 %) errors in a total of 611 transmission attempts. Also, we received opinions regarding SmPHR from 15 healthcare professionals who took part in the clinical trial. Thus, SmPHR can be provided as an interconnected PHR mobile health service to patients, allowing 'plug and play' of PHDs and EMRs through various standard protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of personalized mobile monitoring applications is a complex work. Currently, the most of applications for patients monitoring through mobile devices, is not developed considering the particular characteristics of each patient, but these applications have been developed taking into account a general behavior depending on the diseases instead of the own patients. The diseases manifest different symptoms depending on the patient situation. Mary and John (hypothetic patients) have diabetes, but the same measurement of glucose for each one affects their health in a different way. This paper describes a framework that allows the development of mobile applications, personalized for each patient, in such a way that even if they have the same disease, the application will respond to the individual needs of each patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood donation (BD) is a noble act and mobile applications (apps) can help increase awareness about it. This paper analyzes and assesses the characteristics of free apps for BD as regards features and functionality. A search in Google Play, Apple Apps store, Blackberry App World and Windows Mobile App store was carried out to select 169 free BD apps from the 188 apps identified. The results presented in this paper show that the majority of the apps selected have been developed for the Android operating system. Moreover, most of the apps selected are available to help users search for donors. Few of the apps could not be installed and/or accessed. Of those that could be installed: half of them do not require any kind of authentication; a few of them are available in more than one language; half of them have a geographical restriction; around 60 % of them do not notify the user of BD events and requests; one, which is available for Android and iOS, can connect with a laboratory; around 45 % of them allow users to share information via social networks, and the majority of them do not provide BD recommendations. These results are used as a basis to provide app developers with certain recommendations. There is a need for better BD apps with more features in order to increase the number of volunteer donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the use of smartphones by health professionals and patients and the availability of applications in the field of health promotion through a bibliographic search of Pubmed. Several findings include use of applications that allow calorie counting such as iFood and Calorie Counter, applications that suggest exercises for physical activity, and applications that deal with fall prevention such as the i-Prevention. Advantages and disadvantages of their use are also discussed.