How apps are changing family medicine
The Journal of Family Practice. 2013 July;62(7):362-367
July 11, 2013|The Journal of Family Practice
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Medical applications for smartphones and tablets are so ubiquitous that it’s easy to become a victim of app overload. Here’s a look at FDA-approved apps, reference apps, and apps that FPs are “prescribing.”
Other suggestions for safe use of apps:
- Peruse iMedicalApps (imedicalapps.com), the self-described leading physician publication on mobile medicine. Its physician editors and team of clinicians research and review medical apps.
- Consider the source. An app that has been developed by a medical society, federal agency, or prestigious medical school, for example, is more trustworthy than one from an unknown source (a point you would be wise to pass on to your patients).
- Try the app yourself before you recommend it to a patient.
Finally, keep the privacy provision in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in mind. Before using any app through which private patient health information can be transmitted or stored, ensure that the data will be encrypted and that your mobile device is password-protected, advises mHIMSS, the mobile branch of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.21
