Technology in use

 Digital technology is beneficial for collecting data, an outline of health information, and communications. Notwithstanding the increasing use of medical mobile phone applications by clinicians and patients, there is a lack of studies evaluating their use, particularly in pregnancy. This review explored the use of mobile phone apps for decision support in pregnancy. The main goals are to determine the current landscape of mobile phone apps used for clinical decision support in pregnancy, classify the benefits and potential hazards of use, and recognize facilitators and limitations to implementing these apps into clinical practice.

Pregnancy-specific smartphone apps give gestational age-specific knowledge during pregnancy and are in extensive use. Although the use is frequent, the content delivered to patients through these technologies is not well represented. As digital media proceeds to be fundamental support patients turn to, it is essential for providers to know the information the patient gets through these sources.

Analysis of the information delivered through two smartphone apps has shown that each app has had multiple entries each week of pregnancy, containing almost 700 themes. Most medical app users are familiar with smartphones. They provide the advantage of portability which can be considered a great asset. Some problems are regularly related to the phone's characteristics, such as entering data on a tiny phone screen and the need for scrolling. 

With the relatively low cost for smartphones and the convenience in weight and size, along with the ease of connectivity to mobile networks, mobile apps seem to be held as an exceptional possibility for enhancing healthcare, especially for those in a low-resource setting. Less-educated health care staff can be disciplined in giving front-line care utilizing straightforward devices, with internal validation and notification alerts, and with the added advantage of getting support from distant experts.