Evaluating Health and Wellness Mobile Applications

摘要

Patient, consumer, and provider use of health and medical mobile applications (apps) on smartphones and tablets continues to grow. The number of apps specifically for health and medical purposes also continues to rise. With many apps entering the market, it is difficult for users to tell which apps are reliable or trustworthy and which ones are not. Librarians can serve as a bridge to high-quality health information by advocating for the review and assessment of apps before purchase or use. Librarians have developed similar steps for the evaluation of online health information, some of which can be applied to the evaluation of mobile apps. This article provides an approach for evaluating health and wellness as well as medical mobile apps.