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Chamberlain University College of Nursing *
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MISC
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Medicine
Date
Dec 6, 2023
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docx
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Uploaded by CoachElement10882
The most recent evidence-based research must be easily
accessible to healthcare professionals. Accessing the latest,
trustworthy research in the field is possible with the help of
smartphone medical applications. Additionally, smartphone medical
apps may lead to improved decision-making, fewer medical errors, and
improved communication among hospital medical staff. Using the
critical appraisal evaluation criteria of medical applications, this paper
aims to demonstrate the nursing informatics skills required to examine
MDCalc apps and clinical decision support (CDS) systems designed to
improve medical care delivery by providing clinicians and patients with
information that can lead to more informed decision-making at crucial
junctures along with workflow. The objective, applications, and
endorsements of MDCalc will also be examined, along with the
program's functionality, security, privacy practices, and applicability.
MDcalc has become a popular resource among healthcare
professionals, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and medical
students, due to its user-friendly interface, extensive range of
calculators, and evidence-based approach to medical decision-making.
It is widely regarded as a valuable tool for clinical practice and medical
education.
NAME:
The medical application chosen for this assignment is Medical
Calculator (MDCalc), which corresponds to my birthday month of February.
Healthcare is expanding quickly and is frequently getting
updates. Smartphone applications can be installed on tablets or smartphones
to increase productivity, enhance patient care, or provide specialized training
for professionals (Teferi et al., 2019).
AUTHOR:
The app was created by Dr. Graham Walker and Dr. Joseph
Habboushe, two emergency physicians, established MDCalc, a 14-year-old
medical reference. In addition, MDCalc's content for the calculators is written
by an extensive group of physicians. A private firm situated in the US named
MD Aware, LLC created and maintains MDCalc.
ENDORSEMENT
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other
governmental bodies have not granted MDCalc a license. The American
College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Society of Critical Care Medicine
(SCCM), and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) are a few academic
institutions and medical professional organizations that support it. The
Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and MD Aware LLC have also planned and
implemented the MDCalc medical application.
OPERATION:
Both mobile and web-based platforms support the app.
Because of this, users may access and use the app from a variety of
devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The application's
information is presented in a user-friendly, intuitive manner with visual
guidance that makes navigation simple. Furthermore, the app works
with both the iPhone and iPad and keeps the same visual quality on
both.
AESTHETICS:
The app provides very helpful visual assistance in addition to
a simple structure and layout that is easy to understand. iPhones and iPads
are capable of taking high-quality pictures. You will receive instructions on
how to use the app as soon as you register an account. The information in
the app is presented in a way that makes it simple to navigate, and the
speciality selection tool lets you decide which calculations are linked to the
specialty as well as the option to select none. Users may simply access the
various calculators and tools thanks to the user-friendly and straightforward
user interface. The program is simple and self-explanatory, so it may be used
without any instructions.
PURPOSE:
The app's intended use is to offer a variety of clinical
decision assistance tools and medical calculators to healthcare
practitioners. These tools support a variety of medical calculations, risk
evaluations, and clinical judgments. Over 500 medical calculators and
200 clinical condition decision aids covering a variety of specializations
and disorders are available in the MDCalc program, a resource for
medical professionals. In order to enhance patient outcomes, it entails
choosing a speciality and utilizing a variety of clinical decision tools,
such as dose calculators, diagnostic criteria, risk assessments,
processing algorithms, and scores. In a recent research of medical
calculators, Kummer et al. (2021) asserted that millions of clinicians
globally and over 65% of US-based physicians utilize the MDCalc
application clinical decision support platform (CDS) on a monthly basis.
CLINICAL DECISION MAKING:
The app has a significant influence on
clinical decision making as it provides healthcare professionals with
evidence-based calculators and tools. These tools can aid in risk
assessment, treatment planning, and diagnostic evaluations. However,
it is important to note that the app should be used as a supportive tool
and not as a substitute for clinical judgment.
SAFETY:
The app itself has no potential to hurt patients. To
guarantee patient safety, however, it is essential that medical
practitioners utilize the app correctly and interpret the results in
light of each patient's specific clinical circumstances.
PRIVACY/SECURITY:
There is a privacy statement and a transparent
privacy policy in the app. It assures that user data won't be disclosed
to outside parties and will be encrypted. Information is not shared on
social networks by the app. Users would be alerted in accordance with
the privacy policy in the case of a breach of privacy involving health
information.
USER:
Healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and other
medical practitioners, are the app's main target audience. It offers
them instruments and calculators to help in their therapeutic work.
DISTRIBUTION:
The app is accessible anywhere and is meant for broad
distribution. It is accessible to medical practitioners from many nations
and healthcare systems.
.
CREDIBILITY
:
In general, the app's information sources are reliable.
The software includes sources and references for the calculators and
tools it offers, enabling users to validate the data. Prior to making
clinical choices, it is crucial for healthcare professionals to critically
assess and validate the information.
RELEVANCE:
The data in the app is updated frequently. Every
calculator and tool often includes the date of its most recent update.
The majority of the information is in line with best practices and care
standards as well as research-based publications. To guarantee that
the material is accurate and up to date, healthcare practitioners should
always cross-reference it with recent recommendations and studies.
Conclusion:
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The critical evaluation questions aided in analyzing evidence-based research for the MDCalc
app, which is one of the contributions of smartphone medical applications that will improve
clinical practice, Nursing Informatics abilities, and professional progress. Kummer et al. (2021),
for instance, claim that medical calculators are specialized CDS devices that combine user-
entered clinical parameters to compute the discrete output of various functions. Additionally,
the medical application of MDCalc combines evidence-based procedures, calculators, rules, and
clinical decision aids that are intended to enhance the quality of clinical and patient decisions
made at critical points in the course of therapy.
MDcalc is a widely used online
medical calculator that provides healthcare professionals with quick
and easy access to various clinical calculators and decision support
tools. While MDcalc has several strengths, there are also some
limitations to consider when critically appraising its use.
2. Article: "Evaluation of Mobile Medical Applications in the Apple App
Store: An Update"
Authors: Singh, Karandeep, et al.
Journal: Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine
Year: 2018
This study examines various medical applications available on the
Apple App Store, including Mdcalc. It assesses their quality,
functionality, and adherence to clinical guidelines, providing insights
into the usefulness and reliability of these apps.
Clinical Scenario for the MDCalc App
Patient Age-Population and Clinical Setting History of Present Illness and Diagnosis or
Condition: A 55-year-old woman with a history of hypertension presents to her primary care
physician's office complaining of headaches and dizziness. Her blood pressure is elevated at
180/100 mmHg. The nurse practitioner suspects the patient may have hypertensive urgency
and wants to determine the appropriate treatment plan.
For healthcare professionals, MDCalc is a smartphone app that provides a range of medical
calculators and algorithms. The software can be used at the point of care, enabling healthcare
professionals to input patient information and get evidence-based suggestions for diagnostic
and therapeutic alternatives. For instance, in this case, the nurse practitioner might utilize the
app to compute the patient's cardiovascular risk score and mean arterial pressure (MAP), which
are crucial in establishing the best treatment strategy for hypertension. Calculators for
calculating physiological parameters, such as MAP, were among the most commonly used
calculators on the MDCalc platform, according to a recent study by Kummer et al. (2021).
Additionally, the app offers a step-by-step methodology to assist medical professionals in
choosing the right drugs and dosages based on on the patient's risk factors and comorbidities.
Healthcare professionals are the target audience for the app. In this case, the nurse practitioner
might utilize the app to decide on the patient's treatment plan based on the available evidence,
which could enhance the patient's results and avoid subsequent issues. The app's instant access
to vital clinical decision-making resources can also help providers save time and cut down on
errors. Numerous evidence-based clinical decision-making tools are accessible through the app,
including risk ratings, algorithms, equations, diagnostic criteria, formulae, classifications, and
dosage calculators (Elovic & Pourmand, 2019). An extensive analysis of the physiology and
elements affecting blood pressure is provided by Dr. Sheldon A. Magder's evidence appraisal. It
focuses on the significance of individualized patient management with reference to blood
patient objectives.
Elovic, A., & Pourmand, A. (2019). MDCalc Medical Calculator App Review. Journal of digital
imaging, 32(5), 682–684.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-019-00218-y
Kummer, B., Shakir, L., Kwon, R., Habboushe, J., & Jetté, N. (2021). Usage Patterns of WebBased
Stroke Calculators in Clinical Decision Support: Retrospective Analysis. JMIR medical informatics,
9(8), e28266. https://doi.org/10.2196/28266