Mobile Health Applications in Pediatric Patient Management: Clinicians' Perceptions, Expectations and Experiences

The goal of this observational study is to to determine the perceptions, expectations and experiences of physicians involved in pediatric patient management about mHealth applications. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is the use of mHealth applications in pediatric patient management different between pediatricians and other specialties?
• What are the most commonly used mHealth applications in pediatric patient management? Participants will fill out an online survey form.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Pediatrics; Mobile Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: speciality

Detailed Description

With the development of mobile devices, applications that have become widely used have also affected the provision of healthcare services. Efficient and fast applications that can be used by healthcare professionals as well as patients have begun to be developed. This has been shaped in different aspects by information and time management, calculations, communication, consultancy, electronic health record, patient management and monitoring, medical education and training, decision support system, reference and search for updated information.

There are many studies on physicians' use of mHealth applications. However, each clinic and each medical branch will have different expectations from mHealth applications. The investigators do not know the applications used by physicians participating in pediatric patient management in our country, their expectations from these applications, and their solutions. The investigators aim to learn the perceptions, expectations and experiences of physicians involved in pediatric patient management in Turkey about mHealth applications, and thus to guide future mHealth applications from the perspective of child health and diseases.

An online survey will be used as a data collection tool in our research. The online survey method was preferred in order to keep the research population and sample wide.

Our survey will consist of four sections and a total of 28 questions. Survey questions were derived by reviewing previous studies and national clinical experience. In the pilot study, 10 clinicians were asked to complete the survey. Feedback was received on the operation, duration, structure and readability of the questions of the survey. To ensure content validity and reliability, our survey was revised after the ethics committee evaluation and feedback given through the pilot application.

The first part was about physicians' basic demographic data and mobile device usage. Clinicians' perceptions regarding mHealth application usage were evaluated in the second section, their experiences were evaluated in the third section, and their expectations were evaluated in the fourth section. Those who did not agree to participate in the survey were asked a multiple-choice question asking why. Multiple choice, ranking, five-point Likert scale, and free text (age, etc.) questions were used in the survey. Additionally, in order to increase the reliability of the survey, some control questions were designed as negative-positive questions.

Our study will be reported in accordance with the CROSS (A Consensus-Based Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies) guideline.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 368

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Derşan Onur; Phone Number: +90 (232) 411 60 00; Email: dersan.onur@sbu.edu.tr

Study Locations

• Turkey
  • Izmir, Turkey, 35150
    • Recruiting
    • Dr. Behcet Uz Children's Hospital
    • Contact: Derşan Onur; Phone Number: (+90232) 411 60 00; Email: dersan.onur@sbu.edu.tr
    • Sub-Investigator: Nilgün Harputluoğlu
    • Sub-Investigator: Anıl Er

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Our research population consists of approximately 8500 physicians for pediatricians, approximately 25000 physicians for family physicians, and 15000 physicians for general practitioners in Turkey.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Being a medical doctor involved in the management of pediatric patients (0-18 years old)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Other specialists outside of pediatrics and family medicine.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Pediatrics; attending and resident pediatrics physicians involved in pediatric patient management	Other: speciality; Not
Non-Pediatrics physicians; attending and resident non-pediatrics physicians involved in pediatric patient management	Other: speciality; Not

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Frequency of clinicians' use of mHealth applications	How often is it used per week?	12/01/2023-01/01/2024
duration of clinicians' use of mHealth applications	How long do they use it?	12/01/2023-01/01/2024

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Dr. Behcet Uz Children's Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Derşan Onur, Dr. Behcet Uz Children's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• El Hadidy TS, Alshafei AE, Mortell AE, Doherty EM. Smartphones in clinical practice: doctors' experience at two Dublin paediatric teaching hospitals. Ir J Med Sci. 2018 Aug;187(3):565-573. doi: 10.1007/s11845-017-1713-x. Epub 2017 Nov 23.
• Jahn HK, Jahn IHJ, Behringer W, Lyttle MD, Roland D; Paediatric Emergency Research United Kingdom and Ireland (PERUKI). A survey of mHealth use from a physician perspective in paediatric emergency care in the UK and Ireland. Eur J Pediatr. 2021 Aug;180(8):2409-2418. doi: 10.1007/s00431-021-04023-0. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
• Hadjipanayis A, Klonis A, Abdel-Mannan OA, Sutcliffe AG. Smartphone use in Paediatric Practice: a national survey. J Mob Technol Med. 2016;5(1):3-8. doi:10.7309/jmtm.5.1.2

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 19, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 19, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): November 24, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 6, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 5, 2024
• Last Verified: August 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: pediatric; mobile health
• Other Study ID Numbers: Pediatric mHealth

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No