Review and analysis of existing mobile phone applications for health care-associated infection prevention.
BACKGROUND
The expanding number of mobile health applications (apps) holds potential to reduce and eliminate health care-associated infections (HAIs) in clinical practice. The purpose of this review was to identify and provide an overview of the apps available to support prevention of HAIs and to assess their functionality and potential uses in clinical care.


METHODS
We searched 3 online mobile app stores using the following terms: infection prevention, prevention, hand hygiene, hand washing, and specific HAI terms (catheter-associated urinary tract infection [CAUTI], central line-associated bloodstream infections, surgical site infection, and ventilator associated pneumonia [VAP]).


RESULTS
Search queries yielded a total of 2,646 potentially relevant apps, of which 17 met our final inclusion criteria. The areas of focus were CAUTI (n = 1, 5.9%), VAP (n = 1, 5.9%), environmental monitoring (n = 2, 11.8%), and hand hygiene (n = 2, 11.8%); the remainder (n = 11, 64.7%) were focused on >1 area (eg, multiple infection prevention bundles, infection prevention guidelines). Almost all of the apps (70.6%) had a maximum of two functions.


CONCLUSIONS
Mobile apps may help reduce HAI by providing easy access to guidelines, hand hygiene monitoring support, or step-by-step procedures aimed at reducing infections at the point of clinical care. Given the dearth of available apps and the lack of functionality with those that are available, there is a need for further development of mobile apps for HAI prevention at the point of care.
Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY. Electronic address: rb897@columbia.edu.
Rebecca
R
Schnall
Columbia University School of Nursing, New York, NY.
Sarah J
SJ
Iribarren
D040421:Cell Phone; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D063731:Mobile Applications; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems
Health care–associated infections; Mobile apps; Mobile health technology