Medical Application Critical Appraisal Guidelines
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Medical Application Critical Appraisal Guidelines
Part 1 – The Medical Application Selection
September, October – ICD10 Consult
Figure 1: Screenshots of the Medical App chosen
Part 2 – The Medical App Critical Appraisal
NAME: ICD-10
AUTHOR: ICD-10 App is maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO) (APKPure, 2020). This information is provided in the App clarifying that WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations System.
ENDORSEMENT: the App is offered by Flex Corporate and protected by the APKPure, which abides by the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). DMCA ensures that privacy policies, product names, logos, registered trademarks, and trademarks are maintained. APKPure responds to notices of alleged infringement and complies with the DMCA and other applicable laws (APKPure, 2020). Besides, the WHO itself is a body that provides standards and guidelines to ensure that all information and practices are developed through a transparent, evidence-based decision-making process (WHO, 2020).
OPERATION: this App is suitable for both mobile platforms and websites to offer convenience. The information provided in this App is required by users with different digital devices, including Android phones, window phones, computers, laptops, iPads, and many more. Some of these gadgets like computers may not conveniently access the information via the App, hence the need for a website.
AESTHETICS: The App provides a display that makes it easy to navigate. For instance, on the home page, the App provides three columns, for chapters, search, and favorites. Both the chapter and search columns have the subtopics surrounding various diseases classification and information a user might anticipate, particularly ICD-10 codes. One might pick the right topic or use the search option to narrow it down to the specific disease or symptom. Therefore, it is easy to use even without instructions.
PURPOSE: the App is designed to digitally provide information held by ICD including, ICD-10 diagnostic codes for classifying diseases, nuanced classifications of a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease (APKPure, 2020). It maps health conditions to corresponding generic categories together with specific variations, and also promotes international comparability in the collection, processing, classification, and presentation of these statistics (APKPure, 2020).
CLINICAL DECISION MAKING: The App provides vital information for healthcare practitioners to enable them to make informed decisions and identify diagnoses with the right code numbers (APKPure, 2020). They can compare data on mortality and morbidity to enhance informed decision-making by providing reliable information.
SAFETY: Nieminen (2021) reports that the specificity associated with ICD-10 codes can lead to a persistent use of erroneous data in case patient information or diagnosis was originally entered wrongly, compromising subsequent referencing or diagnosis. It may also lead to an inaccurate diagnosis in case a physician used the symptoms provided to enter a diagnosis based on assumptions (Nieminen, 2021).
PRIVACY/SECURITY: the App has well-elaborated privacy guidelines and information. The App provider, APKPure uses reasonable physical, administrative and technical safeguards to protect users’ personal information from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure (APKPure, 2020). However, some information like the one users provide, while participating in any chats, communities, or social media functions are shared with the public. ICD-10 does not share users’ personal information with third parties but can link them up with third parties, including partners, advertisers, and other content providers to allow users to share such information by accepting the terms and conditions provided by those third parties (APKPure, 2020). Users are notified to confirm if they consent to sharing their information with a third party.
USER: ICD-10 App was built for students and healthcare professionals because they are the primary users and beneficiaries of ICD-10 codes (APKPure, 2020).
DISTRIBUTION: ICD-10 is designed for wide distribution because it is intended to be used worldwide. The App is available on Google Play Store for Android users and can also be used by other smart devices, including iPhones to ensure that anyone accesses and downloads the App for free. Restrictions like passwords and registrations are not required to install and use the App.
CREDIBILITY: information sources for this App are credible because they are provided by the WHO. WHO accepts information that meets its standards and guidelines to ensure credibility and reliability (APKPure, 2020). It bases such standards on evidenced-based studies and consensus amount reliable bodies such as government agencies, CDC, FDA, and credible authors and researchers.
RELEVANCE: the content of the App is relevant because it is current. The App was last updated on October 8, 2020 (APKPure, 2020). The ICD-10 codes providers are consistent across the globe ensuring similarity in the literature (Elsevier, 2020). Besides, ICD reports that the information provided is based on evidence-based research by notable bodies like the WHO to ensure reliability.
Part 3 – An example of a patient or clinical scenario
Patient Age-population – Adult (41-year-old male)
Clinical Setting – Hospital, St. Lucia Municipal Hospital
History of Present Illness and Diagnosis or Condition – the primary complaint was a right heel ulcer though the patient had been diagnosed with Type I diabetes mellitus 12 years ago. The wound was a new symptom that he spotted 5 days ago along with a contusion wound that is slow to heal on his right shin and occurred 5 weeks ago when he pumped into furniture. At age 37, the patient was diagnosed with bilateral lower extremity peripheral neuropathy, hypoglycemic episodes, and nephropathy. The patient is not concerned about his diet but undertakes regular exercise three days a week. He is under regular insulin and NPH. He regulates his blood sugars depending on his feelings, but seldomly checks his blood sugar with a glucometer. He has no history of drug abuse, smoking, or taking alcohol. Laboratory evaluation reports an A1c of 11.9 and a microalbumin of 105.
Provide a detailed description of the app in your example. Further examination, including checking for vital signs (Blood pressure, pulse, and finger stick), nourishment, respiratory details, cardiac signs, abdomen, and neuro signs may be checked to narrow down to the specific symptoms. At this point, the physician in charge of the patient can use the ICD-10 App to specify the disease the patient is suffering from. Some of the search words may include type I diabetes, type 1 diabetes mellitus with foot ulcer, ulcer of right heel, Mellitus with nephropathy, and many more. Some of the relevant ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes provided by the ICD-10 App include:
- E10.21 – Type I diabetes mellitus with nephropathy
- S81.801A – Unspecified open wound, right lower leg, the initial episode
- E10.42 – Type 1 diabetes mellitus with diabetic polyneuropathy
- L97.411 – non-pressure chronic ulcer of right heel and midfoot limited to breakdown of skin
- E10.621 – Type 1 diabetes mellitus with foot ulcer
- R80.9 – Microalbuminuria
This will ensure that the patients’ conditions are correctly entered using ICD-10 codes for the disease he is being treated for. Some insurance companies use these codes to reimburse treatment funds for covered patients. The symptoms show that the patient is suffering from Diabetic Neuropathy, as described by Horsky, Drucker, & Ramelson (2017).
References
APKPure. (2020). ICD-10 (Latest Version 2.5.6) [Mobile app]. Google Play Store. https://apkpure.com/icd-10/com.medic.flex.cid10/download?from=details
Elsevier,. (2020). ICD-10-CM/PCS Coding: Theory and Practice, 2021/2022 Edition E-Book.
Horsky, J., Drucker, E. A., & Ramelson, H. Z. (2017). Accuracy and completeness of clinical coding using ICD-10 for ambulatory visits. In AMIA annual symposium proceedings (Vol. 2017, p. 912). American Medical Informatics Association.
Nieminen, P. (2021). Medical informatics and data analysis. Basel.
WHO, C. O. (2020). World health organization. Responding to Community Spread of COVID-19. Reference WHO/COVID-19/Community_Transmission/2020.1.