Mobile Technology in Medicine

The integration of mobile technology in medicine is ongoing and growing. In 2011 alone, the market for mobile health reached $718 million in the United States. With this wide potential for advancement, there are a number of areas where medicine can be improved by mobile technology.

Increase Patient Access To Their Health Information: At present, health information can be confusing or inaccessible to patients. However, with the introduction of mobile technology, patients can use a variety of apps or websites to look at their health records and test results, or constantly monitor their ongoing health. This will improve their overall health by catching issues early, as well as helping them to become more involved in their own health.

Increase Adherence And Understanding Of Post-Treatment: After patients are released from the hospital, there are a number of areas of after-care that they must adhere to. Unfortunately, this treatment is often misunderstood or ignored because of lack of understanding. With the use of mobile technology, the hospital and patient can access health information to ensure that post-treatment outcome is positive.

Increase Compliance To Medication Treatment: As with post-treatment after hospital stays, prescriptions for medication are often not followed correctly because of patients not understanding proper procedures. With the use of mobile technology, patients can instantly access information on their medicine, as well as proper dosing, and have their questions answered about compliance.

Increase Positive Outcomes For Overall Population: Mobile technology can aggregate medical information for the population as a whole so that healthcare providers can see trends and areas of issue. Being able to see these trends will help healthcare providers work on improving them, thus cutting down on negative health outcomes. Mobile technology can also show where health problems might be emerging in certain areas, so physicians can circumvent the problems before they become more serious.

Mobile technology is a viable area for healthcare. By utilizing the new tools available to them, physicians can work towards a better health outcome for all involved. The patient/physician relationship is an important one, and so too is the technology/physician relationship.