jaredsinclair.com
I'm a registered nurse. I make apps for nurses.
I live in Nashville. Contact me on gmail at jaredsinclair.rn
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MobiHealth News republished an email purportedly from Afshad Mistri, Apple’s lead busines-to-business marketing representative for healthcare apps. The purpose of the email is to alert key business customers of the existence of the new “Apps For Healthcare Professionals” section of the App Store.
Mistri’s email, and the new section it announces, are glaring evidence of how industry leaders continue to ignore bedside nurses:
Number of Times the Word ‘Physician’ or ‘Medical Student’ Appears in Mistri’s Email:
Six.Number of Times the Word ‘Nurse’ Appears in Mistri’s Email:
Zero.Number of Times the Word ‘Physician’ (or a Derivative Thereof) Appears in the Descriptions of the Featured Point of Care or EMR Apps:
Twenty-six.Number of Times the Word ‘Nurse’ (or a Derivative Thereof) Appears in the Descriptions of the Featured Point of Care or EMR Apps:
Zero.Number of Times the Word ‘Nurse’ (or a Derivative Thereof) Appears in the Descriptions of All 59 of the Featured Apps:
One.Name of the Only Featured App to Mention the Word ‘Nurse” in its Description:
Pillboxie.Yep. The only featured app that mentions nurses is my app, Pillboxie, which I advertise via the slogan, “Designed and developed by a registered nurse.”
There are countless references to “physicians or other healthcare professionals” in the above app descriptions, which I suppose could be a veiled reference to nurses. But why not just use the word “nurses?” The number of nurses who use their iPhones in clinical settings easily outnumbers the number of physicians who do the same. Although there are reference apps for nurses elsewhere on the App Store, none of them are included in the “Apps for Healthcare Professionals” section
The exclusion of nursing apps from this new section is indicative of the broader industry trend of placing all innovative focus on physicians, to the detriment of nurses. This is especially true of EMR vendors and third-party EMR clients. To my knowledge, there is only one — one! — native iPhone EMR client designed and marketed for nurses. There are dozens being designed for physicians, yet nurses comprise the lion’s share of EMR users. I really hope that Apple is willing to do what they can to stimulate innovation for nurses as well as doctors.
