Acceptance, Barriers, and Future Preferences of Mobile Health Among Patients Receiving Trauma and Orthopedic Surgical Care: Paper-Based Survey in a Prospective Multicenter Study.

Mobile devices are a widely used source of information for medical content, but only a minority of the population reported previous medical app usage. The main target group for medical apps among patients receiving orthopedic and trauma surgical care tends to be the younger population, which results in a danger of excluding fringe groups, especially the older adults. Education seems to be one of the most important pull factors to use smartphones or a mobile web connection to obtain health information. Medical apps primarily focusing on an optimized patient education and flow of information seem to have the potential to support patients in health issues, at least in their subjective perception. For future target group-oriented app developments, further evidence on the clinical application, feasibility, and acceptance of app usage are necessary in order to avoid patient endangerment and to limit socioeconomic costs.