Mobile Apps & Resources: RNAO

To keep you updated on the go, our ‘app of the month’ highlights one free informational app every month!

Librarian reviewers consider the audience and purpose of the apps, as well as highlighting additional features:
 
  • In the ‘Evidence’ section, we assess how easily an app user can identify the app’s currency and support from the evidence
  • In the ‘Usability’ section, we assess the organization of information and other usability factors that may contribute to user experience

Our complete grading criteria for evidence and usability are embedded in the review.

Please note that the reviewers are not healthcare professionals, and so cannot appraise the quality of any recommendations within the app. The reviews are not endorsements.

View the AHS policy on Mobile Wireless Devices and Services.

 

RNAO

Nursing Best Practice Guidelines App

Reviewers

Rachel Zhao & Pamela Harrison

Version reviewed:

3.1.0

Device & OS used:

iPad Air, iOS 10.2.1 & iPhone SE, iOS 10.3.1

Date of review:

April 24, 2017

 

 

Image Source: Nursing Best Practice Guidelines App, Google Play. ​Retrieved on May 11, 2017 from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.rnao.bpg_app&hl=en

App developer

Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario

Contact

http://rnao.ca/bpg/contact; mwatson@rnao.ca

Devices

Apple iPhone, iPad, iPod touch [iOS 6.0+], last updated October 27, 2016

 

Android, [Android 4.1+], last updated October 25, 2016

Country of origin

Canada

Size

61.6 MB

Specialties/
Disciplines

Multiple specialties: gerontology, primary care,home health care, mental health care, emergency care, and healthy work environments in Nursing

Comments

Includes guidelines applicable to all specialties (e.g. patient & family centered care, client-centered learning, care transitions, and therapeutic relationships)

 

Stated Purpose

“[T]o support [Ontario] nurses by providing them with practice guidelines that will enable them to provide the best quality of care to their clients. These guidelines are supported by up to date, evidence based research.” (source: Google Play listing / App Store listing)

Notes

 

The app provides guideline summaries. Full guidelines are available online.
This app is not selling an external product or service.

 

 

Part 1: Editorial committee, content updates, and evidence grading

Editorial committee assessment is not applicable here. The dates of the guidelines are visible only in grid view, and legible only on larger (tablet) devices. A consistent evidence grading system is used for practice recommendations.

Part 2: Source and authorship information for 3 entries

App provides access to condensed version of the guidelines. Levels of evidence rating provided in the app. Users must leave app and access full guidelines online for detailed evidence and authorship information.

Organization of information

Table of Contents within guidelines allows user to skip to relevant sections easily.Browsing available guidelines in grid view (instead of in list view) allows users to retrieve guidelines without knowledge of exact terminology.

Navigation

Selection of guideline summaries is simplest in grid view, but may require scrolling across a horizontal list (depending on device display size). Navigating within the guideline summaries is simplified by the table to contents. The link back to the table of contents is always present at the top of the screen.However, returning to the table of contents will bring you back to the top of the list, so you will have to scroll down again.

Internet connection required for use: Yes; Text search field: Yes; Browsable content: Yes; Advertisements: No; Pop-up advertisements: No; In-app purchases: No

 

 

Additional features (e.g. assessment forms and scales) are listed in the guideline summary’s table of contents. These may be in full-text, or hyperlinked.