title: The Development of the Recovery Assessments by Phone Points (RAPP): A Mobile Phone App for Postoperative Recovery Monitoring and Assessment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Sweden, day surgery is performed in almost 2 million patients per year. Patient satisfaction is closely related to potential adverse events during the recovery process. A way to empower patients and give them the opportunity to affect care delivery is to let them evaluate their recovery process. The most common evaluation method is a follow-up telephone call by a nurse one or two days after surgery. In recent years, mHealth apps have been used to evaluate the nurse-patient relationship for self-management in chronic diseases or to evaluate pain after surgery. To the best of our knowledge, no previous research has explored the recovery process after day surgery via mobile phone in a Swedish cohort.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of the study is to describe the process of developing a mobile phone app using a Swedish Web-based Quality of Recovery (SwQoR) questionnaire to evaluate postoperative recovery after day surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  The development process included five steps: (1) setting up an interdisciplinary task force, (2) evaluating the potential needs of app users, (3) developing the Swedish Web version of a QoR questionnaire, (4) constructing a mobile phone app, and (5) evaluating the interface and design by staff working in a day-surgery department and patients undergoing day surgery. A task force including specialists in information and communication technology, eHealth, and nursing care worked closely together to develop a Web-based app. Modifications to the QoR questionnaire were inspired by instruments used in the field of recovery for both children and adults. The Web-based app, Recovery Assessment by Phone Points (RAPP) consists of two parts: (1) a mobile app installed on the patient's private mobile phone, and (2) an administrator interface for the researchers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final version of the SwQoR questionnaire, which includes 31 items, was successfully installed in RAPP. The interface and the design were evaluated by asking for user opinions about the design and usefulness of the app with 10 day surgery patients. Some minor adjustments were made concerning text size and screen color.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taking advantage of joint expertise, a useable Web-based app adaptable to different technical platforms was constructed. In addition, the SwQoR was successfully transferred into digital format for use on mobile phones.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Health and Medicine Sciences, Örebro, Sweden. maria.jaensson@oru.se.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7574-6745
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jaensson
authors.forename: Karuna
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4170-6451
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dahlberg
authors.forename: Mats
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5996-2584
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: Åke
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3713-346X
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Grönlund
authors.forename: Ulrica
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5403-4183
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nilsson
keywords: cellular phone; day care; postoperative recovery