The Quality and Safety of Medical Apps

Have you ever wondered about the safety or accuracy of a popular medical app? Have you been asked to recommend useful apps?  Do you know if an application has been evaluated by a credible authority?  FDA regulation is required only for specific types of medical apps , primarily those that control medical devices, store or analyze patient data, and impact treatment.  That leaves a large amount of medical apps on the market unvetted.  These questions and concerns are addressed in a recent article, Medical apps for smartphones: lack of evidence undermines quality and safety, in which the authors present several strategies to promote the development of evidence based apps.  The article was also summarized in the Krafty Librarian blog, in which she included additional suggestions to utilize and build on the reviews in iMedicalApps.com and the Medical App Journal.  There may even be a library role in maintaining a repository of approved medical apps.   (rv)
Source: Midcontinental Region News - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news