Collaboration in the first guide for the development of apps in health and social care.

The TIC Salut Social Foundation, an agency of the Department of Health that works to promote the development and use of ICT, and networking in the field of health, has published the
Basic Guide of recommendations for the development of health and social care apps.

Mimetizo It has been one of the entities that has collaborated in its elaboration, and we can say that it has been one of the key pieces in this project, for its experience in the validation and development of Health Apps in the mHealth project of the Generalitat de Catalunya. This project aimed to accredit health apps so that health professionals could recommend them to their patients.

See the TicSalut project

Mimetizo was not only one of the key players for his expertise, but also for sharing the concern on the importance of increasingly adapting technology to people’s needs.

As Ariadna Rius, head of the Interoperability Office of the FTSS, commented in the presentation of the guide, “this project was born to respond to the needs detected in companies that ask what criteria must be taken into account for the development of a health app”. In addition, Ariadna qualified the importance of taking into account all these recommendations at the beginning of development.

In mimetizo, following the methodology with which we work, we recommend that in addition to taking into account all these criteria, an in-depth investigation is done with the real users of the application, this is how the true needs of the people who will use it will be discovered.

This guide has been validated by a committee of experts formed by members of different official colleges, which was responsible for evaluating the quality of the contents and the usefulness of the functions incorporated by the different applications.

Now, more than ever, the administration must listen to its environment, and this guide could be the gateway to new accredited mobility projects.

Today there are thousands of health apps and it is essential that criteria are followed so that as many people as possible are able to use them and, above all, incorporate them into their daily lives, that is the key when we talk about mobility. This can only be possible by placing the citizen at the center throughout the project, starting with the design phase, as the head of mimetizo, Clara Planet, commented in the presentation:

“We must not forget the user, it is the person who finally has to use the product. With multidisciplinary teams where all the actors involved participate, we will reduce the margin of error and the final cost. Putting the citizen at the center begins in the design phase.”

What has also made this guide an essential step when developing a health app is the diversity and experience in the technology sector of the entities that have collaborated in its development together with mimetizo. These are the entities: CSV Experts, iSalus, m4social the Taula del Tercer Sector and the UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya).

In terms of technology and citizens we can no longer talk about the future, it is necessary to talk about the present and with this guide we will be able to design it together.