Role of Mobile Devices in Enhancing Healthcare Delivery

Role of Mobile Devices in Enhancing Healthcare Delivery

August 12, 2014 | kmgus
Smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices have become an integrated component in day‐to‐day healthcare‐related practices. The increased usage of mobile devices has also led to the tremendous growth of telemedicine. It has helped healthcare professionals save time and reduce costs while extending their reach to help patients located in remote areas. In short, mobile devices have made healthcare delivery faster, more efficient and more cost-effective.
Majority of the physicians who use mobile devices use both smartphones and tablets in their daily practices. Healthcare professionals are using smartphones to access drug information while tablets help in medical research. Physicians are increasingly using mobile apps making them the top digital media channels used for work nowadays.
According to a survey conducted in 2013, nearly 80 percent of physicians said that they were using a smartphone in their day-to-day activities. Surprisingly, 61 percent admitted to using tablets in their healthcare‐related practices up from 34 percent the previous year

Wearable Technology and Connected Devices in Healthcare

The budding – and buzzing – wearable technology market seems to be making a promising development. Smartwatches and other wearable health trackers are finding their way into our lives as a viable way to monitor personal health and manage chronic diseases. But various technology firms (including healthcare ones) have been eyeing wearables for some time, seeing them as valuable tools to promote long-term health.
While today it may be a bit expensive to buy fitness wearables and health trackers, the price is going to come down. If you hold up that price against lost work time, lost productivity time, lost time with your family, people will probably make that choice to go with this technology when they realize its true value. Soon, even insurance companies will start providing fitness trackers and make reimbursements so that patients can work towards getting their chronic conditions under control.

Bridging the Gap between Patients and Providers

Just as more patients are using smart devices to manage their care, providers have started using it to bridge the gap and streamline communication with their patients. Nowadays, the majority of people favor mobile applications that focus on patient data and medical practices probably because they come in handy when the physician is away from the office setting.
Mobile devices should aim to boost the quality of care through patient engagement. If we can work towards developing technologies that can provide better comfort to patients without having them to waste time visiting the hospital or waiting for the doctor…if we can develop a comprehensive, truly connected care solution that enables them to easily manage their own wellbeing, that is when we can establish real patient engagement.