Review on Mobile Apps for Toxicovigilance

Abstract

Toxicovigilance is the active process to detect, validate and follow up with poisoning occurrence within the
community. The collection of data on poisoning occurrences over the years has been compiled into a poison
information database that is accessible by users initially through a computer software and later as a web
application. With mobile technology evolving rapidly, mobile apps have transformed and benefitted users in
many areas including toxicology. This study conducted a review of existing mobile apps in the marketplace
to find out available mobile apps for toxicovigilance and to evaluate its features and functionality to gain
insight into the current trends in that area. Secondly, the objective of this study is to find out whether
those apps are embedded with learning functionalities for health care professionals and examine its learning
features. This study adopts a systematic searching method for apps selection in the marketplace through predetermined
keywords. A total of 22 apps were selected with a majority from the reference and information
gathering category. The learning features in the apps focus on self-assessment and examination. The findings
show that there are limited number of mobile apps for toxicovigilance and more features can be introduced
such as patient monitoring and management or learning features for continuous learning, in addition to the
assessment and evaluation features.