Mobile triage applications for use in health emergencies
Citation: Montano IH, de la Torre Díez I, López-Izquierdo R, Villamor MA, Martín-Rodríguez F. Mobile triage applications: a systematic review in literature and play store. Journal of Medical Systems. 2021;45(9):86.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: European Commission and Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism (Spain).
What is this? Several mobile health applications have been developed in the field of health care and telemedicine to address several health systems issues, including the use of triage by healthcare services in health emergencies.
In this systematic review, the authors searched the healthcare literature for studies of mobile triage applications (apps) and searched in the Google Play Store for the mobile triage apps that they identified for use in health emergencies. The authors restricted their searches to studies conducted from 2010 to 2021. They included 26 studies (representing 13 apps) and found 3 apps in the Google Play Store.
What was found: Since 2019, there has been an increase in research evaluating triage apps for health emergencies, a decrease in mobile app research focusing on catastrophes and an increase in mobile app research focusing on emergency triage.
Despite 13 different apps being identified in the literature, only three (TRIAGIST, Major Trauma Triage and ESITriage) were found to be accessible. The remainder were inaccessible, required paid access for external users or lacked continuous support for the affected individuals.
Implications: The authors of the review concluded that a new mobile triage apps is needed and that these apps should be accessible to all individuals to use at various points of care: pre-hospital, emergency department and post-care to ensure continuity. They also suggest that the apps should include the implementation of essential first-step actions to take for inexperienced responders, such as checking the airway of an individual and administering oxygen.
Other considerations: The authors of the review did not discuss their findings in the context of issues relating to health equity.
This summary was prepared by Yasmeen Saeed, checked by Cristián Mansilla, and finalized by Mike Clarke.