Abstract

SANTAMARIA PUERTO, Gustavo Alexander; HERNANDEZ RINCON, Erwin Hernando  and  SUAREZ OBANDO, Fernando. Use of mobile health applications with Internal Medicine patients at the Regional Hospital of Duitama, Boyacá, Colombia: Uso em pacientes de Medicina Interna no hospital regional de Duitama, Boyacá, Colombia. Rev. cuba. inf. cienc. salud [online]. 2016, vol.27, n.3, pp. 271-285. ISSN 2307-2113.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the purpose of identifying the use and acceptance of mobile health applications (apps) with adult patients attending the outpatient internal medicine service at a regional hospital. Data were collected from telephone interviews with a sample of 452 patients. Of the 452 patients interviewed, 87 (19 %) had smartphones, 82 used some sort of app (18.1 %, CI-95: 4.5-21.6 %) and only 11 had downloaded health apps (2.4 %, CI-95: 1-3.8 %). The apps most commonly used were for control of the menstrual cycle (6 cases; 54 % of the health apps), to monitor physical exercise (4 cases; 36 % of the health apps) and in only one case an app for birth control (9 % of the health apps). The following barriers were identified in relation to the use of the apps: not knowing how to use the mobile device in 181 cases (40 %, CI-95: 35-44 %), lack of access to the Internet in 95 cases (21 %, CI-95: 17-24 %), not knowing how to use the apps in 84 cases (18 %, CI-95: 14-22 %) and mistrust of the safety of the apps in 46 cases (10 %, CI-95: 7.3-12 %). Use of apps is low among the patients attending the outpatient internal medicine service. Additionally, access to smart mobile devices is lower than the national mean reported. The main access barriers are lack of knowledge about the use of the apps and lack of access to the technologies (access to the Internet and possession of smartphones).

Keywords : mobile applications; cellular phones; telemedicine; Colombia.

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