The evolution of clinicians’ preparedness for mHealth use (2013-2017) and current barriers

Clinicians now insist that health authorities and researchers provide practical evidence and strategies for reacting to and handling patient-gathered data (PGD) and mobile health (mHealth) devices. With diabetes as a use-case, we present a summary of our own studies and a narrative scientific literature review to exemplify the progress of clinicians’ perceptions of mHealth. We then compare these results to a narrative review of official clinical practice guidelines related to mHealth use (2013-2017) to demonstrate similarities and differences between what clinicians perceive as opportunities for mHealth and what health authorities are providing. Review of mHealth studies revealed that clinicians have become more willing to accept mHealth technologies and use patient-generated data over time. However, review of clinical practice guidelines revealed several barriers to using mHealth in clinical practice. Results of this comparison indicate 1) the need for a balance of clinician and patient participation and feedback during mHealth studies, and 2) health authorities’ lack of sufficient guidance to clinicians for practically using mHealth in their daily practice.