Since the rise of smartphones, they have been used in almost every industry to streamline processes and make work easier. The healthcare industry is no exception. Mobile innovations are changing and improving patient care, and will continue to do so in the future.
Here are some of the things your smartphone is capable of doing, to help solve major problems in healthcare:
Check for ear infections
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Ear infections are one of the most common ailments among young children. For parents, that means multiple trips to the pediatrician for the same problem, which translates to extra time and money. But a smartphone attachment is changing that.
The Oto Home, from CellScope, is a device that attaches to iPhones allowing parents to examine their child’s ears at home. The device captures images of the ear and sends the photos to physicians. Within two hours, parents receive a diagnosis and know what steps they need to take without taking a, potentially, unnecessary trip to the pediatrician.
Eventually more and more apps and devices will allow parents to care for the most common childhood illnesses from home, saving them both time and money. At the same time, a reduction in routine care visits means pediatricians will have more time to focus on patients who need more serious care.
Quickly identify diseases
A Personalized Approach to Medication Nonadherence
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Disease outbreaks are still a big problem in many parts of the world. We were reminded of that with the massive outbreak of Ebola in West Africa last year. Diseases are hard to contain in some countries because they lack the medical supplies, staff, and funds to control them effectively. The answer to avoiding major outbreaks may be in your pocket.
A small study conducted in Rwanda tested a smartphone attachment that can rapidly identify HIV and syphilis. The study, published in February in Science Translational Medicine found that the device provided accurate results in just 15 minutes, at a low cost.
The implications of this device are huge. The device itself can stop the spread of deadly diseases and significantly reduce the resources and cost to do so. But the attachment reveals a larger trend in healthcare as well. With smartphones, access to quality care can be extended to underserved populations around the world. Low-cost, smartphone-based solutions won’t just control disease outbreaks, but they will help deliver primary care as well.
Deliver basic care
One of the major problems in healthcare is the shortage of providers. It’s basic math. There are more patients in the system than physicians to care for them. As a result, primary care responsibilities are shifting to nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals. Retail-based clinics are popping up in pharmacies where patients can see a provider for minor illnesses and receive medication on the spot.
The retail clinic is migrating to your smartphone. Telehealth websites and apps, like NowClinic, allow patients to connect with providers from smartphones and other mobile devices. Patients can talk with providers via video chat, text-based chat, or a good old fashioned phone call.
Much like apps that monitor children’s health from home, online-based and telehealth clinics can save patients time and money, decrease healthcare costs, and alleviate the burden of care caused by the physician shortage.
Hire the next generation of health professionals
It’s no secret healthcare needs more professionals. And it’s affecting patient care. Doctors, nurses, and other care providers are needed, and hospitals and health systems are having trouble finding them. But they may be looking in the wrong places.
In a 2014 Glassdoor survey of 1,000 employees and job seekers, 89 percent survey respondents said they use a mobile device during their job search, and 45 percent said they use their mobile device to search for jobs at least once each day. In the health industry, my company MedReps.com found that 90 percent of job seekers surveyed use their smarphone in their job search.
But there is a disconnect between job seekers and employers. A 2014 survey conducted by CareerXroads, found that seven in 10 companies surveyed rarely use mobile to hire executives, and a similar amount said the same when hiring hourly and entry-level employees.
Hospitals and health systems are notoriously slow to adopt new technologies, and may be behind on hiring trends. With job board apps, new recruiting apps that easily connect job seekers and employers with a few swipes, and creative approaches like Snapchat for recruiting, mobile can help hospitals hire the professionals they need faster, increasing and improving patient care.
What was once only possible with highly educated professionals and expensive equipment, is now possible with a tiny device you use on a regular basis. From increasing access to care and decreasing healthcare costs to beefing up the provider workforce, smartphones are helping to shape the future of the healthcare industry.
What do you think? Which smartphone innovations will have the largest impact on healthcare?
