Rene Aleman, MD, Cristian Milla Matute, MD, Maria Fonseca Mora, MD, Joel S Frieder, MD, Emanuele Lo Menzo, MD, PhD, FACS, FASMBS, Samuel Szomstein, MD, FACS, FASMBS, Raul J Rosenthal, MD, FACS, FASMBS. Cleveland Clinic Florida
BACKGROUND: Patient therapeutic education (PTE) encourages patient involvement and it has demonstrated efficacy in treating various chronic conditions. With the ever-growing smartphone ownership in the U.S., packaged software applications <’apps’>, have become widely popular for the access of health-related information, including bariatric surgery. The aim of this study is to review currently available apps in terms of PTE for bariatric surgery.
METHODS: The search for smartphone apps was conducted using three U.S. web stores: Apple’s App Store, Google Play (Android) and Blackberry World. The keyword‘bariatric surgery’ was used in order to retrieve the available related apps. The content quality and quantity of the apps was determined in accordance to PTE definition by the World Health Organization (WHO) as: “helping the patient and his family to acquire knowledge and competencies about the disease and its treatment, in order to better collaborate with the caregivers, and to improve his quality of life”. Data was collected and posteriorly analyzed from the app overview description provided by the developer.
RESULTS: Overall, a total of 306 apps were identified in the web stores used for the search (Google Play=249, Apple App Store=41, and BlackBerry World=16). Of the entire query, 14.71% (N=45) of the apps classified as PTE apps, 4.25% (N=13) were targeted for surgeons, 1.31% (N=4) targeted sales related to bariatric surgery, and 1.63% (N=5) were literature reference apps. None of the apps reviewed required payment for download. Seven percent (N=22) of the apps had customer review with an overall average of 4.01/5. Nineteen apps were duplicated in the Google Play and the Apple App stores. Furthermore, 77.77% of the PTE apps had some sort of medical professional involvement.
CONCLUSIONS: There are currently 45 apps available for patients specifically directed to PTE on bariatric surgery. With the current trend on smartphone/app patient education, further studies are needed to determine the impact of mobile-based information in current bariatric clinical practice. Additionally, although apps are a way to educate potential bariatric surgery candidates, expert professional follow up should be emphasized to guarantee satisfactory outcomes.
Presented at the SAGES 2017 Annual Meeting in Houston, TX.
Abstract ID: 95327
Program Number: P190
Presentation Session: Poster Session (Non CME)
Presentation Type: Poster