Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Barriers to the adoption and integration of patient-facing mHealth tools in urology

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies hold great potential to advance medical care. However, widespread adoption in urology, and medicine in general, has been limited by a host of factors. Recognition of these barriers to adoption may instruct more meaningful tool development and investigation in order to unlock the full potential of these digital health tools in our field.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Barriers to mHealth adoption in urology.

References

  1. Faria, L. F. et al. Digital application developed to evaluate functional results following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: app for prostate cancer. Comput. Methods Programs Biomed. 197, 105683 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Kong, T., Scott, M. M., Li, Y. & Wichelman, C. Physician attitudes towards — and adoption of — mobile health. Digit. Health https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207620907187 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Tapiero, S. et al. Smartphone technology and its applications in urology: a review of the literature. World J. Urol. 38, 2393–2410 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Scales, C. D. Jr. et al. Prevention of Urinary Stones With Hydration (PUSH): design and rationale of a clinical trial. Am. J. Kidney Dis. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2020.09.016 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Pereira-Azevedo, N. et al. mHealth in Urology: a review of experts’ involvement in app development. PLoS ONE 10, e0125547 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Winoker, J. S., Koo, K., Huang, M. M., Bhanji, Y. & Matlaga, B. Systematic evaluation of smartphone applications for the medical management of nephrolithiasis. J. Endourol. https://doi.org/10.1089/end.2020.1005 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ho, L. et al. Rating of pelvic floor muscle training mobile applications for treatment of urinary incontinence in women. Urology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2020.08.040 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Vaghefi, I. & Tulu, B. The continued use of mobile health apps: insights from a longitudinal study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 7, e12983 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Khirasaria, R., Singh, V. & Batta, A. Exploring digital therapeutics: the next paradigm of modern health-care industry. Perspect. Clin. Res. 11, 54–58 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jared S. Winoker.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

B.R.M. declares personal fees received as a consultant for Boston Scientific Corporation unrelated to this study. The other authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Related links

App Advisor: an American Psychiatric Association Initiative: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/mental-health-apps

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Winoker, J.S., Koo, K. & Matlaga, B.R. Barriers to the adoption and integration of patient-facing mHealth tools in urology. Nat Rev Urol 18, 247–249 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-021-00444-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-021-00444-6

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing