Information Technology (IT) was majorly used by healthcare industry experts, however, it is now also adopted by patients. Healthcare mobile apps are beneficial for both medical professionals and patients. For the needs of medical professionals and patients, the following methods can be used to advance the mobile healthcare industry.
- Online Interaction
Not every doctor is available at every clinic or hospital. This problem becomes an important issue, especially in rural areas. Through mobile phones, patients can contact and interact with the doctor to know what happened with their health condition. The doctor also can give some first aid suggestions if needed virtually.
- Time Management and Patient Engagement
Through a mobile app, the patient can view the doctor’s schedule and match it with the patient’s schedule. This also will eliminate the long waiting hours and queued patients. Patient engagement also improves with an appointment reminder, medical checkup schedule notifications or popup reminder to take medicine
- Digital Health Record
This is another aspect that shows how a mobile app can bring great convenience. Instead of making patients leave the hospital with stacks of paper, files, and documents, the mobile application allows them to carry every detail of their medical history in their mobile phones. As a result, patients can view and observe their health history and find the right doctor specialist easily when they face the same health condition.
As mobile health care continuously grows, there is a trend that has promising growth particularly in 2020. The health care trend that will “pop” in 2020 is a live chat with doctors and it also can be combined with Artificial Intelligence through a chatbot. In 2019, there have been many applications that provide forums for patients to ask their doctors and the patients responded by doctors whose expertise related to their questions. However, the response can’t come directly, it will take a couple of hours or days for the answer. Chatbot makes this problem solved, users can get direct responses after they asked a question and when the question begins to be more detailed, the doctor will take over the communication.
With lots of healthcare applications in the market, it will make it easier for patients to interact with the doctor and easily find information about their health. The following are some of the benefits of using mobile technology in the healthcare industry:
- Education and awareness
With the rise of health applications, it is easier to disseminate information, educate and improve health care. Some applications have also been equipped with sensors that can help provide health information for users.
- Diagnostic and communication
The application can also be used to communicate remotely (Telemedicine) where patients can be examined remotely by the doctor. Patients can also contact the relevant health care provider about symptoms experienced to get the first aid.
- Disease surveillance, remote data collection, and epidemic outbreak tracking
Application in this field utilizes mobile devices to send data quickly, inexpensively, and efficiently. Data that includes the location and level of the disease can help the government as a policymaker or other organization to predict outbreaks and determine the need for the placement of medical resources.
- Treatment support and medication compliance for patients
This application aims to support the continuity of patient care such as to track the patient's condition, reminders to take medication, and schedule treatment. The application is usually using SMS or with a smartphone application.
To conclude, mHealth apps is a smart innovation in the conventional healthcare industry that can replace a face-to-face meeting between doctor and patient. By integrating mHealth with the current healthcare service owned by healthcare professionals/organizations, it will improve patient engagement and satisfaction.
Author: Aldio Firando (Technical Lead)
