Mobile Technology Improving Healthcare - Research Paper Example

? Mobile Technology Improving Healthcare The demand of mobile technologies surpasses their capability to just entertain or connect people to one another. Mobile technologies have huge potential as tools to support healthy behavioral modification, to convert the care provider and patient link, and to transform the way healthcare is delivered within the U.S. and all over the globe. Actually, mobile technologies are already being utilized to support healthy alterations in way of life, support patients' dynamic contribution in their cure, lessen waiting times in general practitioners' offices, and develop a supplier's access to patient data, all with the objective of enhancing healthcare results. One way mobile technologies can create a better life is to decrease the time wasted in waiting: waiting to meet the general practitioner, waiting for a treatment to be prescribed, and waiting for lab test results to come. The introduction of mobile phones has made it greatly convenient for individuals to correspond in spite of where they were around the globe. By the mid of 2000s, these phones were turning more and more dominant with ‘miniaturized computer chip technology’ that made it feasible for consumers to do more intricate chores. The mobile phone has developed from a tool that was basically a phone that people could use away from residence to something more similar to a ‘handheld computer’ - an appropriately named ‘smartphone’. At the moment, users can carry out chores beyond that of merely making calls and texting, for instance, sending/receiving emails, net surfing, video recording, word processing and a lot more, “the addition of computer-like capability to the phone has also resulted in the development of applications that can be designed to perform specialized tasks” (Varshney, p. 74). One remarkable twist within the mobile world is that of ‘mobile health’. According to World Health Organization, mobile Health is the use of cell phone and wireless technologies to sustain the success of health goals. The idea of mobile Health has by now caught on with mobile phone applications that help health care suppliers by giving the latest records of medicines, information on ailments and so forth. This has already assisted general practitioners in complementing their ‘point-of-care’ service. It is as well accessible on the outpatient or getting end of health care by offering patients with schedules for prescriptions or the way to eat or work out in a better way. The potential seem to be even more capable as mobile technologies are still moving ahead quickly. Even though one can see actual use and advantages for this technology within developed nations, the same stays to be seen for rising nations also. Mobile phone use in rising nations has boomed during the earlier period and carries on to do so in a number of areas. The technology has facilitated nations with no infrastructure to avoid the need to make landlines, which were formerly needed for telephony to take place. “By constructing modern radio towers instead, these countries can leapfrog the older and more expensive telephone technology, which has resulted in countries that possess a well-established mobile network despite lacking paved roads, electricity or landline internet connections” (Varshney, p. 55). This state of affairs has permitted for an exceptional number of people who are currently linked to one another, in addition to the internet. One most important aspect about this comprehensive technology is that it is very reasonably priced within these regions. An advantage of mobile Health is that it can be used to let a wide base of consumers to be immediately notified on a broad range of issues. These issues could range from epidemic discovery and warning, medicine or treatment adherence, HIV understanding, and so forth. More than 78 percent of all WHO affiliate states recommend at least one mobile health service - the greater part of which is in higher earnings nations. The mainstream or about two-thirds of ventures in mobile Health are still within a ‘pilot stage’, which creates a number of difficulties in its extensive execution. Mobile Health is in front of quite a lot of obstacles, regardless of the several promising plans. A number of concerns incorporate the lack of credible studies that summarize a helpful advantage for the cost of executing mobile health. The researchers as well have to show additional substantiation that mobile health can develop health outcomes. In nations where financial support is already restricted, the governments may come to a decision to subsidize other significant health care plans whose outcomes are well known. Moreover, there is a need of consistency as a number of the studies have been started to deal with one particular setback in that one area. The World Health Organization is now creating a tool kit that will possibly offer an identical set of guiding principle for using mobile health at some point (Olia & Tan, p, 293). Mobile health provides a promising approach to deliver various health care plans and services to the people who have usually had trouble accessing such resources. With the growing potential of mobile technology as well as its saturation into distant and rural regions, one can look ahead to emerging fields within mobile health. Preferably, such applications would assist both health care suppliers and patients identically. Health care suppliers may witness sophisticated tele-health technologies for corresponding with professionals, for support in multifaceted or complicated practices outside of complicated care services, for instance, in distant or underserviced regions. An expansion of this is that it could as well let general practitioners to more simply transcribe and supervise their patients. Yet an additional use branching from this is tutoring of people for public health reasons. With any latest emerging technology, it is vital to evaluate its advantages and threats. Researches need to be done to create a homogeneous set of guiding principles – a responsibility that is already taking place by the World Health Organization. Following such guiding principles, it would as well be functional to legalize the technology in accordance with the requirements of an individual nation and its nationals, since illness burdens and health care facilities would differ. While the authentication of the gains of mobile health and whether it is a helpful investment over new health services in nations where capital is already inadequate are key concerns, there seems to be a possibility for mobile health to make an important impact on health care in the future. In United States, 94 percent of people have access to a cell phone. The United Nations Foundation statement declares that more or less 32 percent of United States citizens are HIV positive, but merely 4 percent are aware of it. Mobile technology can revolutionize this fact. In a number of countries, sending text messages for reminding individuals to get their HIV medicines correctly reduced the adherence to the treatment by 11 percent, and in some states of United States, simple calls to patients having tuberculosis, reminding them to take their medication, lessens the drug adherence by 89 percent. These are a few dominant outcomes, revealing how cell phone technology can assist developing medical situation of individuals with main problems (Al-Hakim, p, 123). Health care employees will be capable to follow and check patients’ symptoms by the use of mobile phones with text facilities in association with a central record. Such as nurses might ask individuals living with HIV with TB, a number of yes/no questions regarding their condition, symptoms as well as reactions to some specific medicines. They can as well evaluate the requirement for additional drugs within a particular region. This yes/no information can be entered into a cell phone and sent to a central record. By making an the latest record of health information, health care employees can track transmittable illnesses in distant regions, manage medical supplies and make enhanced decisions supported by more precise facts and figures. Mobile phones have been utilized to encourage maternal and baby health; mobile phone users in rural regions discuss home delivery and the mobile phones used to organize aid or transport to competent health care employees if deliveries turned out to be difficult. A main setback in front of several rural health centers is the absence of patient information. Mobile phones could be employed to take pictures and offer GPS positioning report of all family units in the sub-county. This data is then entered into a central record, used by health centers, which could keep patient records and biodata. These records are automatically updated each time a patient is treated. This information directly assist in developing and raising medical appointments and patient follow-ups, such as classifying kids who are missing vaccination schedules or mothers not showing up for antenatal tests (Hoyt et al, p. 273). Mobile along with communication technology can assist in a more instant and convenient sense, by spreading talents and information to rural health care employees. Health care employees and health care team affiliates, new to the use mobile technology in this way, ‘will have to get serious and regular guidance to make this work’. Telemedicine depends not just on cell phones, but also on records, local area networks as well as internet connection. There is a rising body of confirmation that reveals the potential of mobile communications to drastically develop healthcare services - even in the most distant and resource deficient surroundings. This report studies issues of quickly developing connection of mobile phones and healthcare. It facilitates to understand mobile health’s extent and execution across developing states to which mobile health can be applied, and the mobile health uses that guarantee the maximum impact on heath care ideas. Mobile communication gives a helpful way of bringing healthcare facilities to citizens of developing countries. With inexpensive handsets in addition to the saturation of mobile phone networks internationally, millions of citizens that never had standard access to a landline telephone or PC, now utilize mobile devices as every day devices for communication as well as data transfer. 71 percent of the entire mobile phone users can currently be found in the developing nations. In addition, estimations confirm that by 2013, half of all people within distant regions of the world will have cell phones. This rising ubiquity of mobile phones is a fundamental component in the guarantee of mobile technologies for health care. “Mobile health and eHealth are inextricably linked” (Katevas, p. 264) - both are utilized to develop health care and their technologies function in combination. For instance, a number of eHealth ideas consist of digitizing patient information and making an electronic backup that preferably will homogenize access to patient information inside a nationalized organism. Mobile health plans can be the ‘access point’ for entering patient information into nationwide health records systems, and as distant records tools that offer information to healthcare clinics, home suppliers, and health care employees in the field. While there are several individual mobile health plans, it is significant to check the prospect mobile health offers for reinforcing wider eHealth plans. An increasing number of developing nations are applying mobile technology to deal with health requirements. The mobile health field is extraordinarily active, and the choice of applications being made is persistently increasing. The most important applications for mobile health in developing nations are schooling and understanding; distant information gathering; distant examining; communication and guidance for healthcare employees; ailment and epidemic eruption tracking; and diagnostic and healing support. Popularized by youngsters within western nations who required an inexpensive way of interacting with friends, SMS provide a lucrative, competent, as well as scalable way of offering outreach facilities for a broad range of health issues. "In learning and awareness applications, “SMS messages are sent directly to users’ phones” (Duplaga et al, p. 299) to present information with reference to testing and healing techniques, accessibility of health facilities, and ailment management. Proper studies and subjective proof reveal that ‘SMS alerts’ have considerable impact on and a better capability to control activities than radio and television promotions. SMS alerts offer the further benefit of being somewhat inconspicuous, providing receivers’ privacy in situations where illness is usually inviolable. Within the developing nations, SMS alerts have turned out to be particularly successful in targeting “hard-to-reach populations and rural areas” (Duplaga et al, p. 184), where the lack of health centers, lack of healthcare employees, and inadequate access to health-associated information all too often stop individuals from taking knowledgeable decisions regarding their health. SMS message campaigns can be started either as one-way alerts or as interactive means applied for health-associated learning and communication. For instance, a civilian may sign up to be a part of some survey, provided by means of SMS message, questioning them on their acquaintance with HIV/AIDS as well as the location of the adjoining testing center. Relying upon their replies, information about where and how to get a free examination will be conveyed. This interactive form has been positioned within quite a lot of nations to support AIDS learning and testing and offer information regarding other transmissible diseases, in addition to encourage maternal health and instruct youth regarding reproductive health. “While other communication mediums, such as radio, television, voice-based information hotlines, and even interactive websites can be employed in the service of education about public health issues, SMS stands out as having several advantages over each of these: cost-effectiveness, scalability, convenience, broad reach, and widespread popularity in the developing world” (Chutani et al, p. 193). By supporting health-conscious attitude, the mobile health education and responsiveness plans have positive impacts. The ubiquity as well as economical nature of SMS messages holds the potential to move the model for health learning by communicating with individuals in a reachable, appealing way that both regards their confidentiality and gives them the tools to take knowledgeable decisions. Information gathering is another crucial constituent of public health plans. Officials and health suppliers at the nationwide, district, and community level require precise information with the aim to measure the usefulness of presented strategies and plans and to form new ones. In the developing nations, gathering field data is mainly significant in view of the fact that various sections of the population are hardly ever able to go to a hospital, even in the situation of severe sickness. Collecting information where patients reside is very important, and information should preferably be reorganized and available on a ‘real-time basis’. The information gathering procedure is more proficient and consistent if carried out by means of PDAs or cell phones instead of paper-based surveys that are submitted personally and manually entered into the main health database. Information gathering plans have been arranged in several developing nations, mostly as pilot plans. The most booming plans are developing and starting to be positioned in many nations. These plans are closing the information gap that presently exists for patient information within the developing nations, enable public representatives to measure the success of healthcare plans, assign capital more competently, and regulate plans as well as policies accordingly. One of the areas, most exclusively suitable to develop in tandem with cell phone technology is the distant screening of patients. Distant monitoring opens fresh potential for treating patients within an outpatient situation, a vital ability within developing nations where access to hospital beds as well as health centers is restricted. Facts prove that severe adherence to a medicine administration is important for successful cure of a number of health care issues, from AIDS to diabetes. Besides, examining patients at residence for chronic conditions radically develops endurance rates. Distant screening applications are being executed on a comparatively restricted basis within developing nations, but they are getting grip within the developed nations, mainly for chronic ailments. As the advantages of these applications are recognized within the developed countries and financial support models develop in developing nations, distant testing is likely to turn into extensive and considerably advances health outcomes for an extensive range of transmissible as well as chronic ailments (Nicholson et al, p. 237). A severe deficiency of healthcare employees is a main challenge in front of developing nations’ health sectors. Preparing fresh cadres of health experts as well as empowering existing employees with the intention of increasing job satisfaction as well as reducing abrasion is indispensable to meeting human capital requirements. Linking health care employees with sources of information by the use of cell phone technology is a sturdy foundation for empowerment, as it offers the sustenance they require to carry out their tasks successfully and self-sufficiently. There is as well a vital need to develop communication between different health units to smooth the process of more efficient patient care. As a result of the shortage of landline phones as well as Internet-enabled PCs, it is not unusual, for instance, for a patient to be admitted in the local hospital by the local health center, just to discover that there is no bed accessible. Cell phones can facilitate to fill these communications gaps that within the health situation can regularly indicate the distinction between lives gone and lives saved. Occurrences of transmissible ailments usually start in pockets, and, if stayed unobserved, can grow into epidemics. Usage of mobile devices, with their capability to rapidly capture and spread information on infection occurrence, can be important in the avoidance and control of epidemics (Cornelius & Gordon, p. 376). Diagnostics as well as healing support are critically significant within healthcare - misdiagnosis or the failure to identify a condition could have severe, even deadly, consequences. Mobile health applications in this area are made to offer diagnosis and healing recommendation to distant healthcare employees by means of wireless access to medical records or medical workers. With mobile health enabled diagnostics and healing support, patients are able to get cure in their rural communities and residences, preventing the need for costly hospital visits, which are out of reach for majority. Diagnostic and treatment applications utilize the mobile phone as a point-of-care machine. Health care employees’ mobile phones are characteristically set with particular devices, such as integrated software that guides the employee through a step-by-step diagnostic procedure. Once information is entered, distant medical experts can identify the disease and advise treatment. By removing the need for patient travel, these applications have the potential to radically boost access to health care. Similarly significant to the cost-effectiveness as well as scalability of mobile health is its capability to give a successful tool for dealing with emerging health requirements. Health professionals note that in the subsequent 13 years, officials and health care suppliers in the developing nations will be required to turn their attention to avoidance and early detection instead of late-stage cure of non-transmissible ailments, as well as to the health requirements of aging inhabitants. These alterations are the cause of trends such as relocation from countryside to metropolitan areas, financial development, and varying nutritional practices. As developing nations undertake and make important enhancements in the extent of transmissible ailment, standard earnings levels raise together with usual life expectancy. Even a small raise in earnings adds to altering nutritional practices, and use of ‘meat products’ as well as ‘processed foods’ is connected to the reduction of diabetes and cancer. Late discovery of these diseases leads to lesser endurance levels as well as decreased life expectancy, and has harmful effects for communal and financial growth. Developing nations are consequently being faced with a dual burden of treating and holding the spread of transmissible ailments while fighting an extensive range of unknown health concerns. Mobile health is well positioned to deal with these challenges by means of tools presently accessible. “For example, just as SMS alerts are useful in raising public health awareness of communicable diseases, these same types of alerts can be used to ensure patient adherence with treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes” (Istepanian et al, p. 399). A number of middle-income nations are already witnessing a shift away from transmissible diseases in the direction of chronic diseases. In these nations, there is a considerable proof that mobile health programs are testing with addressing a broader range of chronic non-transmissible ailments, with the attention on early cure. Dealing with potential health requirements will be eased by the growth of mobile technologies as well as network expansion. The main technology trends in cell phone technology carry on to be the similar trends that have exemplified technological advancement from the last 30 years: miniaturization, better speed, and affordability. A bigger range of services becomes feasible with more standardized, quicker and more reasonably priced broadband access. “Success can beget successes” in the field of mobile health if associations improve their prospect to drive booming results by learning from related plans going on within the mobile health field (Istepanian et al, p. 410). Mobile phone operators have great control as well as have strong associations with handset producers, and they must influence this point to bring to marketplace cell phones along with other appliances that can offer the mobile health services consumers in developing nations need. Affordability is very important, yet not enough to considerably raise the usage of mobile services all over the developing world. Inexpensive cell phones that include simple, inventive characteristics are key to growing access to mobile services as well as facilitating to produce the scale and marketplace considered necessary to sustain them in the long run. Works Cited Al-Hakim, L. Web Mobile-Based Applications for Healthcare Management. IGI Global, 2007. Chutani, S. Alami, J. R. Badshah, A. and Yunus, M. Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets the Needs of Emerging Markets. Wiley, 2010. Cornelius, F. H. and Gordon, M. G. PDA Connections: Mobile Technology for Health Care Professionals. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. Duplaga, M. Zielinski, K. and Ingram, D. Transformation of Healthcare with Information Technologies. IOS Press? 2004. Hoyt, R. E. Yoshihashi, A. and Sutton, M. Medical Informatics: Practical Guide for the Healthcare Professional. Lulu.com, 2009. Istepanian, R. Laxminarayan, S. Pattichis, C. S. M-Health: Emerging Mobile Health Systems. Springer, 2005. Katevas, N. 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