Use of no-code platforms in the development of clinician-designed mobile apps to support clinical work in the emergency department

Abstract

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. BACKGROUND AND OPERATIONAL AIMS Clinicians are required to have a deep grasp of medical knowledge, keep up with the latest literature and stay updated on evolving hospital guidelines. Emergency department (ED) clinicians in particular deal with a large breadth of information, referring to guidelines from multiple professional bodies from different specialties. This need to stay current is especially crucial during this COVID19 pandemic, where more than 20 000 articles were published over a 6month period during the pandemic. This naturally translated into new hospital workflows and guidelines that evolved quickly as evidence grew. To deal with large volumes of information, several solutions have been commonly in use. These include mobile friendly websites such as UpToDate (https://www. uptodate.com) and MedCalc (https:// www.mdcalc.com) for general clinical care. For emergency medicine clinicians, websites such as CorePendium (https:// www.emrap.org/corependium/) and mobile apps such as Bedside EM (https:// www.expeditiondocs.com/bedsideem) offer specialtyspecific information. To disseminate latest guideline changes and workflows quickly, some institutions have opted to use text messaging, while others have relied on daily email bulletins or institutional intranets. While these solutions have enhanced clinical work, they have some limitations. First, they do not allow for personalisation. Second, choosing to send out information by text or email rapidly results in a disorganised accumulation of information, possibly leading to clinicians referring to the incorrect document. Lastly, the user interface of institutional intranets often caters to only desktop computers and updating these institutional folders may be nonintuitive or require the assistance of administrative support. In prior years, there have been reports of clinicians developing their own apps, notably to support clinical education. These have been limited by certain features of the platforms used, such as incompatibility across operating systems, need for some coding expertise and difficulty in upkeep. In recent years, lowcode/ nocode platforms for app development have flourished, with Forbes calling them the ‘most disruptive trend of 2021’. Notable platforms include Bubble (https:// bubble.io), Glide (https://www.glideapps. com), WordPress (https://wordpress.com) and AppSheet (https://www.appsheet. SUMMARY BOX