Utilization of the iOS Shortcuts App to Generate a Surgical Logbook Tool: Feasibility Study

Area of Science:

• Medical informatics
• Surgical education
• Health informatics

Background:

• Surgical audit is crucial for improving surgical outcomes and reflective practice.
• Current electronic logbook tools, particularly mobile apps, often lack essential data fields.
• Efficient data collection is vital for both personal and unit-level surgical audits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a free and effective surgical logbook tool using the iOS Shortcuts app.
• To assess the time investment required for maintaining a surgical logbook with this tool.
• To explore the utility of the Shortcuts app for creating medical data collection tools.

Main Methods:

• Developed an "Operation Note" shortcut within the iOS Shortcuts app.
• Collected surgical logbook data adhering to Royal Australasian College of Surgeons audit data sets.
• Assessed the tool's feasibility, including data entry time, accuracy, and completeness.

Main Results:

• The "Operation Note" shortcut successfully collected accurate and useful data for surgical audits.
• Average data entry time was 65 seconds for the minimum data set and 135 seconds for the extended data set.
• A statistically significant difference in time was observed between minimum and extended data set entries (P<.001).

Conclusions:

• The iOS Shortcuts app is a viable platform for creating surgical logbook tools.
• Data collection for surgical audit remains time-consuming, even with efficient tools.
• The "Operation Note" shortcut provides a free, rapid, and customizable alternative for surgeons to record operative data.