New mHIMSS Report Looks at Evaluating Medical Apps

mHIMSS is the mobile initiative from HIMSS that focuses on the use of mobile technologies in healthcare. The initiative is looking to “harness the power, expertise, passion, and commitment of volunteer members, mHIMSS provides timely and insightful content related to current issues, trends, and topics associated with mobile technologies and mHealth.”

A visit to the mHIMSS site shows a wealth of information, from webinars to white papers. The site also addresses privacy and security, a huge topic of interest and concern.  mHIMSS also offers virtual event briefings with their next event right around the corner. On Wednesday, August 8 at 10 Eastern/9 am Central you can join the mHIMSS virtual event briefing on Mobile Health IT: A Glimpse into the Technologies at Work Today in Healthcare. The event is free to join.

The learning objectives listed for this briefing are as follows:

• Explain the ways in which a variety of health organizations are using mobile technologies to positively affect patient care
• Highlight the use of mobile health IT across the continuum of care
• Discuss the challenges and the opportunities to consider as a result of deploying mobile applications in a healthcare setting

The mHIMSS Mobile Usability Work Group also just released a July report Selecting a Mobile App: Evaluating the Usability of Medical Applications. The 30-page report was prepared to help healthcare providers and IT staffers on selecting mobile apps for their practice or hospital. The report gives practical guidance on what goals and measurable objectives to consider in a mobile app, assessing an apps usability in a typical clinical scenarios, an app market review section and sample app scenarios.

You can learn more or register for the mHIMSS virtual briefing. You can download the mHIMSS report on evaluating and selecting a mobile app.