Contributions of mobile applications to pre-hospital care: integrative review

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the scientific contribution of mobile applications developed for pre-hospital care. Methods: Integrative literature review study; the databases used were the following: Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, SciELO, Embase, Lilacs, BDENF, Medline/PubMed, Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global; (period 2017-2022), including all article categories (with abstract and full texts available with free access) in Portuguese, English, or Spanish, containing the keywords “Pre-Hospital Assistance”, “Pre-Hospital Care”, “Pre-Hospital Services”, “Pre-Hospital Emergency Care”, “Nursing”, “Mobile applications”, “Portable Software Applications”, and “Mobile Apps” in titles and/or abstracts. Two researchers applied the eligibility criteria of the studies and collected data using a previously prepared instrument. Results: From a total of 944 studies, seven were selected for evaluation. Mobile applications developed for the pre-hospital care area are technological tools that have contributed to triage, pediatric first aid, patient safety, preparation of medications during cardiac arrest, quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and communication between the emergency team and the electronic nursing record. Conclusions: The studies highlighted the potential related to the use of mobile applications in pre-hospital care, contributing especially to improving patient safety and the quality of care provided in pre-hospital urgency and emergencies. The optimization of assistance and early diagnosis times was also shown as a contribution of applications to assistance, in addition to alerting to details that may be unnoticed.