Like every other industry where technology has touched base, the healthcare industry is rapidly catching up. Technology has resulted in a paradigm shift in healthcare services, patient care, and remote healthcare. Thanks to the rapidly advancing mobile technology and adaptation of mobile devices in healthcare services, medical services and caregiving have transformed, penetrated, and literally become location-independent. In this article, let us have a look at how mobile technology and apps are transforming the healthcare industry.
Use of mobile devices by healthcare professionals
According to Statista¹, the number of smartphone users is estimated to cross 3.8 billion by 2021. This severe penetration of mobile usage has resulted in healthcare going mobile. From physicians to doctors, surgeons to nurses, primary healthcare providers to remote healthcare workers, everyone now makes use of a mobile device—a laptop, wearable technology trends like smartwatches, a smartphone, or a tablet—for work.
Healthcare professionals use mobile devices in clinical practices and education. Desktops gradually replaced the conventional paper-based patient data management and tracking systems. From tracking every single detail to improved clinical decision-making, digitalization in the healthcare industry has been a blessing in disguise. The technical sophistication, quality revenue generation, and effective decision-making make smart systems such as those of hospital management programs an appealing investment. However, healthcare professionals are now using laptops and smartphones for faster data access and convenience. Powered by cloud storage for real-time data storage, access, and updates, mobile devices in healthcare have proved to be more handy, light, and multifunctional with various support applications, whereas traditional computers would have many dependencies on other third-party hardware components for similar tasks.
Here are some interesting stats about mobile technology in healthcare:
How mobile devices and healthcare apps are transforming the healthcare industry:
The rapid incorporation of mobile devices into medical practice has driven the development & availability of medical software applications or apps. These apps facilitate healthcare providers with various critical tasks, like easy health record maintenance and access, patient management and monitoring, communications and consulting, and reference and information gathering. Besides these, there are various apps available for different supporting tasks, such as prescriptions, coding, hospital billing, clinical guidelines, and telehealth.
Let us have a look at the top healthcare processes that have been revolutionized thanks to mobile technology:
- Accessing patient data from e-records (EHR)
Maintaining patient data on cloud-based data storage is the new norm for healthcare systems. With mobile devices, accessing patient data anytime and anywhere helps to provide proper diagnostics, preventive treatments, and accurate patient care. Patients do not have to log into their medical files, and healthcare providers can access patient histories and health records of current treatments easily.
- Improvement in the quality of healthcare and fewer medication errors
E-records that contain real-time digital imaging of patient ailment, scanning of patient information, and maintenance of patient history, coupled with technologies such as AI, AR, and VR, can help by offering improved quality of healthcare. Digital record-keeping and e-prescriptions can help reduce manual errors, such as administering pills or injections depending on the medication. Physicians can increase availability by providing assistance via their personal devices.
Read more: BYOD in Healthcare: Benefits, Challenges, Solutions
- On-demand healthcare and remote healthcare
With mobile devices and telehealth apps, offering on-demand healthcare services is possible. Developing a healthcare app can help in providing healthcare assistance and primary diagnosis over the air. Facilitating frontline remote healthcare workers with mobile devices can further help in increasing the diameter of healthcare services. The mobile devices of remote healthcare workers can be equipped with guidelines, medical literature, drug references, medical software applications, and a communication tool to be connected with the mainline hospital or healthcare center. To ensure patients feel comfortable with the transfer of sensitive, protected information, it’s important to utilize a secure and compliant SMS, email, and server to upload and transfer patient data safely. Incorporating healthcare software development into these devices enables seamless access to advanced medical tools and resources, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of remote healthcare delivery.
Read more: Team Communication and Collaboration Among Remote Healthcare Executives
- Senior care and value-based care for medical homes
In senior care homes and assisted homes, mobile devices can be used to provide online healthcare and routine checkups. Each patient device can have their patient data and vitals, which can help in providing care, from medication to nutrition, for on-call caregivers.
Read more: Senior Healthcare: How Technology and MDM are Paving the Way for Better Living
Secure healthcare mobile devices with Scalefusion MDM
In order to leverage mobility, hospitals provide mobile devices to healthcare providers and in-house patients. These devices need to be secured from any misuse, unauthorized access, or breach of sensitive patient data. Scalefusion is a cloud-based mobile device management (MDM) solution for healthcare. Scalefusion MDM for healthcare enables hospitals and healthcare systems to remotely manage, provide access control, and secure the data on mobile devices used by healthcare practitioners and patients. Explore Scalefusion MDM for healthcare to secure mobile devices in healthcare.
Read more: 5 Ways Mobile Device Management is Transforming the Healthcare Industry
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