Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Free Blood Donation Mobile Applications

  • Mobile Systems
  • Published:
Journal of Medical Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Blood donation (BD) is a noble act and mobile applications (apps) can help increase awareness about it. This paper analyzes and assesses the characteristics of free apps for BD as regards features and functionality. A search in Google Play, Apple Apps store, Blackberry App World and Windows Mobile App store was carried out to select 169 free BD apps from the 188 apps identified. The results presented in this paper show that the majority of the apps selected have been developed for the Android operating system. Moreover, most of the apps selected are available to help users search for donors. Few of the apps could not be installed and/or accessed. Of those that could be installed: half of them do not require any kind of authentication; a few of them are available in more than one language; half of them have a geographical restriction; around 60 % of them do not notify the user of BD events and requests; one, which is available for Android and iOS, can connect with a laboratory; around 45 % of them allow users to share information via social networks, and the majority of them do not provide BD recommendations. These results are used as a basis to provide app developers with certain recommendations. There is a need for better BD apps with more features in order to increase the number of volunteer donors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Kaur, G., and Gupta, N., E-health: A new perspective on global health. J. Evol. Technol. 15(1):23–35, 2006.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Moghaddasi, H., Asadi, F., Hosseini, A., Ebnehoseini, Z., E-health: a global approach with extensive semantic variation. J. Med. Syst. 36(5):3173–3176, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Seva-Llor, C.L., Toval, A., Ouhbi, S., Fernández-Luque, L., Free web-based personal health records:An analysis of functionality. J. Med. Syst. 37(6):1–16, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Breen, G.-M., and Zhang, N.J., Introducing ehealth to nursing homes: theoretical analysis of improving resident care. J. Med. Syst. 32(2):187–192, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Karthikeyan, N., and Sukanesh, R., Cloud based emergency health care information service in India. J. Med. Syst. 36(6):4031–4036, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Yang, X., and Miao, Y., Distributed agent based interoperable virtual EMR system for healthcare system integration. J. Med. Syst. 35(3):309–319, 2011.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. Ouhbi, S., Idri, A., Fernandez-Aleman, J.L., Toval, A., Benjelloun, H., Electronic health records for cardiovascular medicine. In: 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC, IEEE, pp. 1354–1357 (2014)

  8. Baig, M. M., and Gholamhosseini, H., Smart health monitoring systems: an overview of design and modeling. J. Med. Syst. 37(2):1–14, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Uotinen, J., Involvement in (the information) society - the Joensuu Community Resource Centre Netcafé. New Media Soc. 5(3):335–356, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kay, M., mHealth: New horizons for health through mobile technologies, Vol. 3 of Global Observatory for eHealth series, World Health Organization, 2011

  11. Yang, Y.T., and Silverman, R.D., Mobile health applications: the patchwork of legal and liability issues suggests strategies to improve oversight. Health Aff. 33(2):222–227, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Aungst, T., Clauson, K., Misra, S., Lewis, T., Husain, I., How to identify, assess and utilise mobile medical applications in clinical practice. Int. J. Clin. Pract. 68(2):155–162, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Sama, P.R., Eapen, Z.J., Weinfurt, K.P., Shah, B.R., Schulman, K.A., An evaluation of mobile health application tools. JMIR mHealth and uHealth 2(2), 2014. e19.

  14. World Health Organization: World blood donor day: Safe blood for saving mothers [cited June 2014]. http://goo.gl/vrIU4v

  15. World Health Organization: Global Database on Blood Safety. Summary Report 2011, (2011) [cited June 2014]. http://goo.gl/TpwreS

  16. Ylipulli, J., Suopajärvi, T., Ojala, T., Kostakos, V., Kukka, H.: Municipal WiFi and interactive displays: Appropriation of new technologies in public urban spaces, Technological Forecasting and Social Change (2013) In Press

  17. World Health Organization: Blood donor selection: guidelines on assessing donor suitability for blood donation (2012)

  18. Martín, J.A.C., Martínez-Pérez, B., de la Torre-Díez, I. , López-Coronado, M., Economic impact assessment from the use of a mobile app for the self-management of heart diseases by patients with heart failure in a Spanish region. J. Med. Syst 38(9):1–7, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Paschou, M., Sakkopoulos, E., Tsakalidis, A., easy Health Apps: e-health apps dynamic generation for smartphones & tablets. J. Med. Syst. 37(3):1–12, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration. Mobile medical applications: guidance for industry and Food and Drug Administration staff, Silver Spring MD, 2013

  21. d’Heureuse, N., Huici, F., Arumaithurai, M., Ahmed, M., Papagiannaki, K., Niccolini, S., What’s app?: a wide-scale measurement study of smart phone markets. ACM SIGMOBILE Mob. Comput. Commun. Rev. 16(2):16–27, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Martínez-Pérez, B., de la Torre-Díez, I., López-Coronado, M., Sainz-de Abajo, B., Robles, M., García-Gómez, J.M., Mobile clinical decision support systems and applications: a literature and commercial review. J. Med. Syst. 38(1):1–10, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kharrazi, H., Chisholm, R., VanNasdale, D., Thompson, B., Mobile personal health records: An evaluation of features and functionality. Int. J. Med. Inf. 81(9):579–593, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Chomutare, T., Fernandez-Luque, L., Årsand, E., Hartvigsen, G., Features of mobile diabetes applications: review of the literature and analysis of current applications compared against evidence-based guidelines. J. Med. Int. Res. 13(3), 2011. e65.

  25. Bert, F., Giacometti, M., Gualano, M.R., Siliquini, R., Smartphones and health promotion: a review of the evidence. J. Med. Syst. 38(1):1–11, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Tian, Y., Zhou, T.-S., Yao, Q., Zhang, M., Li, J.-S., Use of an agent-based simulation model to evaluate a mobile-based system for supporting emergency evacuation decision making. J. Med. Syst. 38(12):1–13, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Tian, Y., Zhou, T.-S., Wang, Y., Zhang, M., Li, J.-S., Design and development of a mobile-based system for supporting emergency triage decision making. J. Med. Syst. 38(6):1–10, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Joe, J., and Demiris, G., Older adults and mobile phones for health: A review. J. Biomed. Inform. 46(5):947–954, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Martínez-Pérez, B., de la Torre-Díez, I., Candelas-Plasencia, S., López-Coronado, M., Development and evaluation of tools for measuring the Quality of Experience (QoE) in mHealth applications. J. Med. Syst. 37(5):1–8, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Hassan, O.M.M.: application, Mobile blood donation, Ph.D. thesis, University Utara Malaysia (2010)

  31. Liberati, A., Altman, D.G., Tetzlaff, J., Mulrow, C., Gøtzsche, P.C., Ioannidis, J.P., Clarke, M., Devereaux, P., Kleijnen, J., Moher, D., The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration. Ann. Intern. Med. 151(4), 2009. W–65–W–94.

  32. Stone, P.W., Popping the (PICO) question in research and evidence-based practice. Appl. Nurs. Res. 15(3):197–198, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Interactive visited countries map — am Charts [cited June 2014]. www.amcharts.com/visited_countries/#MK.

  34. IDC: Android and iOS continue to dominate the Worldwide smartphone market with Android shipments just shy of 800 million in 2013 [cited June 2014]. http://goo.gl/Azp7sz

  35. Ludin, A., Learn BlackBerry 10 App Development:A Cascades-Driven Approach, Apress, 2014.

  36. Costa-Font, J., Jofre-Bonet, M., Yen, S.T., Not all incentives wash out the warm glow: the case of blood donation revisited. Kyklos 66(4):529–551, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Martínez, M., Contingency planning for natural disasters. ISBT Sci. Ser. 6(1):212–215, 2011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Williamson, L.M., and Devine, D.V., Challenges in the management of the blood supply. The Lancet 381 (9880):1866–1875, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Eder, A., Evidence-based selection criteria to protect blood donors. J. Clin. Apher. 25(6):331–337, 2010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Council of Europe Blood Transfusion. Background & Mission [cited June 2014]. http://goo.gl/l1zcDs.

  41. Carrion, I., Fernandez Aleman, J., Toval, A., Personal health records: New means to safely handle health data? IEEE Comput 45(11):27–33, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Li, M., Yu, S., Ren, K., Lou, W.: Securing personal health records in cloud computing: Patient-centric and fine-grained data access control in multi-owner settings. In: Security and Privacy in Communication Networks, Springer, pp. 89–106 (2010)

  43. McMillan, J.E.R., Glisson, W.B., Bromby, M., Investigating the increase in mobile phone evidence in criminal activities. In: 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS, pp. 4900–4909: IEEE, 2013.

  44. Klonovs, J., Petersen, C.K., Olesen, H., Hammershoj, A., ID proof on the go: Development of a mobile EEG-based biometric authentication system. IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag. 8(1):81–89, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Witte, H., Rathgeb, C., Busch, C., Context-aware mobile biometric authentication based on support vector machines. In: Fourth IEEE International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies,EST, pp. 29–32: IEEE, 2013.

  46. Meng, Y., Wong, D.S., Schlegel, R., et al., Touch gestures based biometric authentication scheme for touchscreen mobile phones. In: Information Security and Cryptology, pp. 331–350: Springer, 2013.

  47. James, A.B., Josephson, C.D., Shaz, B.H., Schreiber, G.B., Hillyer, C.D., Roback, J.D.: The value of area-based analyses of donation patterns for recruitment strategies, Transfusion In press (2014)

  48. Pennycook, A., The cultural politics of English as an international language: Routledge, 2014.

  49. Reed, C.M., Medical tourism. Med. Clin. N. Am. 92(6):1433–1446, 2008.

  50. Aghaie, A., Aaskov, J., Chinikar, S., Niedrig, M., Banazadeh, S., Mohammadpour, H.K., Frequency of dengue virus infection in blood donors in Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran. Transf. Apheres. Sci. 50(1):59–62, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Central Intelligence Agency: The World Factbook (2014) [cited June 2014]. http://goo.gl/A3RX4.

  52. Agarwal, N., Chatterjee, K., Coshic, P., Borgohain, M., Nucleic acid testing for blood banks: An experience from a tertiary care centre in New Delhi,India. Transfus. Apher. Sci. 49(3):482–484, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. West, D.M., and Valentini, E., How mobile devices are transforming disaster relief and public safety, Brookings Institution (2013)

  54. Singh, P., Thawani, V., Thakur, H., The advent of mhealth in India. Asian J. Biomed. Pharm. Sci. 3(19), 2013. O–P.

  55. Davey, S., Davey, A., Singh, J.V., Raghav, S.K., Retracted m-health services: Can it be a potential mechanism in improving public health system of India? Indian J. Commun. Health 25(3):316–320, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Murugesan, S., Mobile apps in Africa. IT Professional 15(5):8–11, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Lederer, S.E., Bloodlines: blood types, identity, and association in twentieth-century America. J. R. Anthropol. Inst. 19(S1):S118–S129, 2013.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  58. Boulos, M.N.K., and Yang, S.P., Exergames for health and fitness: the roles of GPS and geosocial apps. Int. J. Health Geogr. 12(1):18, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Glickman, M., Rao, S.R., Shapiro, G., Diaz, T., Here’s to your health: Use of GPS-enabled mobile devised to conduct health surverys, Child mortality in Sierra Leone Chance 25(3):38–42, 2012.

  60. Páez, A., Esita, J., Newbold, K.B., Heddle, N.M, Blake, J.T., Exploring resource allocation and alternate clinic accessibility landscapes for improved blood donor turnout. Appl. Geogr. 45:89–97, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Cimaroli, K., Pez, A., Newbold, K.B., Heddle, N.M.: Individual and contextual determinants of blood donation frequency with a focus on clinic accessibility, A case study of Toronto, Canada, Health & Place, Vol. 18 (2012)

  62. Priyono, H., Tips and tricks to monitor employees on their Android smartphones [cited June 2014]. http://goo.gl/MTNukt, 2013.

  63. J. N. Fahlquist: Responsibility and privacyethical aspects of using GPS to track children, Children & Society

  64. Gray, L.: How Does GPS Work? The Rosen Publishing Group (2013)

  65. Oei, W. , Janssen, M.P., Poel, C.L., Steenbergen, J.E., Rehmet, S., Kretzschmar, M.E., Modeling the transmission risk of emerging infectious diseases through blood transfusion. Transfusion 53(7):1421–1428, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Dorsey, K.A., Moritz, E.D., Steele, W.R., Eder, A.F., Stramer, S.L., A comparison of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus, and human T-lymphotropic virus marker rates for directed versus volunteer blood donations to the American Red Cross during 2005 to 2010. Transfusion 53(6):1250–1256, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Martín-Santanam, J.D., and Beerli-Palacio, A., Achieving donor repetition and motivation by block leaders among current blood donors. Transf. Apheres. Sci. 47(3):337–343, 2012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Smith, A., Matthews, R., Fiddler, J., Recruitment and retention of blood donors in four Canadian cities: an analysis of the role of community and social networks. Transfusion 53:180S–184S, 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Sojka, B.N., and Sojka, P., The blood donation experience: self-reported motives and obstacles for donating blood. Vox Sanguinis 94(1):56–63, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Goldman, M., Ram, S.S., Yi, Q.-L., Mazerall, J., O’Brien, S.F., The donor health assessment questionnaire: potential for format change and computer-assisted self-interviews to improve donor attention. Transfusion 47:1595–1600, 2007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Lee, H., Ahn, H., Choi, S., Choi, W., The SAMS: Smartphone addiction management system and verification. J. Med. Syst. 38(1):1–10, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Arif, M., Bilal, M., Kattan, A., Ahamed, S.I., Better physical activity classification using smartphone acceleration sensor. J. Med. Syst. 38(9):1–10, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. The lancet series: Transfusion medicine [cited June 2014]. www.thelancet.com/themed/transfusion-medicine.

  74. Ali, A., Auvinen, M.-K., Rautonen, J., Blood donors and blood collection: The aging population poses a global challenge for blood services. Transfusion 50(3):584–588, 2010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. Armitage, J., Giving the donor his (or her) due. Transfusion 54(3pt2):750–752, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Ouhbi, S., Idri, A., Fernandez-Aleman, J.L., Toval, A., Benjelloun, H., Applying ISO/IEC 25010 on mobile personal health records. In: Proceedings of Healthinf Conference, pp. 405–412 (2015)

  77. Zapata, B.C., Niñirola, A.H., Idri, A., Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Toval, A., Mobile PHRs compliance with Android and iOS usability guidelines. J. Med. Syst. 38(8):1–16, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  78. Ouhbi, S., Idri, A., Aleman, J.L.F., Toval, A., Evaluating software product quality: A systematic mapping study. In: Joint Conference of the International Workshop on Software Measurement and the International Conference on Software Process and Product Measurement, IWSM-MENSURA, IEEE, pp. 141–151 (2014)

  79. Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Señor, I.C., Lozoya, P.Á.O., Toval, A., Security and privacy in electronic health records: A systematic literature review. J. Biomed. Inform. 46(3):541–562 , 2013.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Insfran, E., Chastek, G., Donohoe, P., do Prado Leite, J.C.S., Requirements engineering in software product line engineering. Requir. Eng. 19(4):331–332, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  81. Reddivari, S., Rad, S., Bhowmik, T., Cain, N., Niu, N., Visual requirements analytics: a framework and case study. Requir. Eng. 19(3):257–279, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  82. Toval, A., Nicolás, J., Moros, B., García, F., Requirements reuse for improving information systems security: a practitioners approach. Requir. Eng. 6(4):205–219, 2002.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  83. Sánchez-Henarejos, A., Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Toval, A., Hernández-Hernández, I., Sánchez-García, A.B., Carrillo de Gea, J.M., A guide to good practice for information security in the handling of personal health data by health personnel in ambulatory care facilities. Aten. Primaria 46(4):214–222, 2014.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  84. Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Sánchez-Henarejos, A., García-Amicis, V.M., Toval, A., Sánchez-García, A.B., Hernández-Hernández, I., Study of the importance and security level of passwords in the healthcare setting. Gaceta Sanitaria 29(1):74–76 , 2015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  85. Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Sánchez-Henarejos, A., Toval, A., Sánchez-García, A.B., Hernández-Hernández, I., L. Fernandez-Luque: Analysis of health professional security behaviors in a real clinical setting: an empirical study, International Journal of Medical Informatics In press (2015)

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research is part of the GEODAS-REQ project (TIN2012-37493-C03-02) financed by both the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European FEDER funds. The mobility grant of Sofia Ouhbi is financed by the Mediterranean Office for Youth (MOY).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics and Systems, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    Sofia Ouhbi, José Luis Fernández-Alemán & Ambrosio Toval

  2. Software Project Management research team, ENSIAS, Mohammed V University, Souissi Rabat, Morocco

    Ali Idri

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    José Rivera Pozo

Authors
  1. Sofia Ouhbi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. José Luis Fernández-Alemán
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ambrosio Toval
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ali Idri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. José Rivera Pozo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sofia Ouhbi.

Additional information

This article is part of Topical Collection on Mobile Systems

Appendix A: The selection results

Appendix A: The selection results

Tables 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 present the list of the apps selected in this study. Each Table contains the selection result for each app repository.

Table 10 Selection results: Apple App Store
Full size table
Table 11 Selection results: Blackberry App World
Full size table
Table 12 Selection results: Windows Mobile Store
Full size table
Table 13 Selection results: Google Play. Part 1
Full size table
Table 14 Selection results: Google Play. Part 2
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ouhbi, S., Fernández-Alemán, J.L., Toval, A. et al. Free Blood Donation Mobile Applications. J Med Syst 39, 52 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0228-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0228-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation