the application of Mobile health in the neonatal intensive care unit: an integrated review

Introduction Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) provide preterm and medically fragile newborns with critical care, but challenges such as post-discharge monitoring, parental stress, and efficient data management persist. Mobile health (mHealth) applications have appeared as disruptive innovations to tackle such issues via remote monitoring, parental guidance, and optimized clinical workflows. The applications ensure care continuity, reduce parental worry, and enhance healthcare provider efficiency. This integrative review examines mHealth applications used in NICUs, their impact on care delivery, parental support, and health outcomes and addressing implementation obstacles. Methodology Systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar for English language articles published during ۲۰۱۴ to ۲۰۲۵. Of an estimated ۲۸۰ articles, duplicates were removed, and titles and abstracts screened, ۴۵ articles being eligible for full-text review. Inclusion criteria were studies that utilized mHealth technologies (e.g., mobile apps, telehealth, remote monitoring systems) in NICU settings in neonates (۰-۲۸ days of age) or parents, with reported results regarding continuity of care, parental support (e.g., stress reduction, education), nursing efficiency, or health outcomes (e.g., growth monitoring, early complication detection). Excluded were non-mobile technology, non-NICU patient, or undefined outcome studies. Results Remote monitoring applications improved post-discharge continuity of care for preterm babies by enabling early detection of stunted growth and developmental delay. mHealth applications with nursing emphasis removed data management and standardized assessment loads, reducing bureaucratic workload. Parental support applications reduced parental stress and anxiety levels, improved parenting capabilities, and raised social support, with telehealth systems promoting remote bonding via web cameras and videoconferencing. Tracking real-time health information allowed for timely intervention, improving outcomes like glycemic control in similar cases. mHealth also allowed for education of healthcare providers, improving follow-up with care plans. Infection risk from mobile device use and technical problems required user-friendly designs presented the challenges. Conclusion mHealth applications have the capacity to revolutionize NICU care through improving care continuity, parental health, and clinical efficiency. Infection control and technical concerns must be addressed to deliver safe and effective mHealth application delivery. Studies in the future should have as goals maximizing the user interface, standardizing outcome measures, and validating mHealth applications for different types of NICU settings to translate the advantages of their use into neonatal care.