Tag: mobile health

A recent Merck survey found that smartphones and tablets are altering the way healthcare is provided.

A new survey by Merck Manuals showed that mobile health technology is changing the game. These mobile digital resources are helping doctors and patients in the way that care is provided. The survey revealed that doctors feel confident in their ability to keep up with digital and mobile technology.

The physician participants in the survey said they were ready for the changes being made in information tech.

The main focus of healthcare has been moving toward value and efficiency. In this effort, mobile health technology has considerable potential for doctors. They feel as though they are properly equipped to keep up with this tech shift.

The survey involved the participation of 220 physicians. It was held at a recent medical conference at which the vast majority of participants said that mobile technology such as smartphones in their offices has changed the way visits occur. This applies both in the case of their own smartphones and those brought by their patients.

More than 4 out of 5 doctors feel mobile health technology has changed the dynamic in their offices.

Among the respondents, 81 percent said that being able to obtain medical information over mobile devices has caused multiple changes in their offices. That said, physicians feel they are prepared for what is to come. They feel tech savvy enough to be able to use the devices and apply them effectively to their patient interactions.

Among those who feel prepared for the tech shift – 75 percent of the respondents – two out of three say they use mobile technology a minimum of ten times per day to access medical information. They feel this tech helps them to keep up with patient interaction needs and demands for time.

Eighty percent of the doctors who use mobile health technology devices at work use information they learn from apps and online information databases. They are using this information to provide themselves with more detailed information when making a diagnosis or recommending a patient treatment plan. Another two out of every three are keeping themselves up to date with medical news over mobile devices.

A software kit developed by Medic Mobile can be used in any type of environment to support healthcare.

Mobile Health (mHealth) provided by Medic Mobile is improving healthcare accessibility and quality in Africa. Using VMware, the American non-profit technology company, specializing in mHealth, developed a special software toolkit. This toolkit can be used in just about any environment and supports any language. It also functions with internet connectivity and without it, in the cloud or locally.

The software toolkit is giving African’s access to quality healthcare in the remotest parts of the continent.

The web and mobile tools work on a basic cellular phone. The software is giving health workers the ability to track disease outbreaks, register pregnancies, communicate emergencies, communicate with patients and keep stock of medicines.

The Medic Mobile solution is Linux-based and is made possible through a mobile network virtualized by VMware, running on VMware Player. The toolkit enables healthcare workers to gather and transmit patient data wirelessly via basic cell phones to the central clinic. This significantly cuts down on travel time and cost while making the delivery of quality healthcare better.

Medic Mobile CEO Josh Nesbit stated that the organization’s vision “is that the things that we know save lives should be made accessible to everybody, no matter where they are, no matter how much money they make, no matter to what social group they belong. The vision is global health equality.”

Since the mobile health technology has been implemented, healthcare has improved in Africa.

For instance, in Uganda, infant mortality rates continue to decrease every year. One of the major reasons for this is community health workers can provide better care. They can register pregnancies through a simple text message to the Medic Mobile system. They can provide details including the patient’s name, estimated due date and risk factors. A patient ID is automatically generated by the system and sends automated reminders to both health workers and patients, regarding scheduled appointments. If the appointment is missed by the patient, the system will notify the health worker to followup with the patient.

Presently, over 9,000 healthcare workers are using mobile health tools from Medic Mobile to aid over five million people in 23 developing countries. Using these tools, the healthcare workers are achieving solid results.