Identification of UIDPs for developing medical apps

Abstract

User Interface Design Patterns (UIDPs) improve the interaction between the users and the applications through interfaces with a suitable navigability, intuitive and without restrictions in the size of the screen, to show the content. Nowadays UIDPs are very used in the development of new apps. For medical domain there are 2 types of apps: (1) apps focused on health professionals: control of appointments and files, medical encyclopedias, among others; and (2) apps focused on citizens in general: self-care of health, medical calculators, health service locators, among others. UIDPs are not considered and analyzed in the design and development process of medical apps. In this work, we carried out an analysis of UIDPS suitable for the development of medical apps, in order to identify the most used user graphical interfaces for this kind of applications. The aim of this work is to provide a guide that allows to developers incentive the use of best practices for future developments of medical apps. In conclusion, the use of best practices for the medical apps development will improve the interaction of users with the apps and it will increase the use of these apps since these are intended to make day-to-day easier of patients and their families.