Mobile Computing and Social Network - Research Paper Example

? Mobile Computing and Social Network Mobile Computing and Social Network Introduction Mobile computing can be referred to the process of human-computer interaction where a computer device is expected to travel during its usage. Mobile hardware, mobile software, and mobile communication are the major elements of mobile communication. According to Uwe Vieille, “mobile computing is the ability to use computing capability without a pre-defined location and/or connection to a network to publish and/or subscribe to information” (as cited in Balakumar, 2012). Currently, mobile computing technology has profound impact on health care management. Recently, a number of devices have been developed to work with an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad for the purpose of recording patient’s health information including blood pressure, blood glucose levels, oxygen levels, and heart rate. This paper will discuss the impacts of mobile computing technology in the field of health care management. Mobile computing technology Vs traditional practices It is evident that vital signs are central components of patient care and they mainly include body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, respiratory rate, and other measurements. Today, all these vital signs can be recorded and tracked using mobile computing technology. In the recent past, patients were required to consult a physician or go to a clinical laboratory to check for these vital signs. Under this practice, physicians or sometimes nurses record the patient’s vital signs manually and document the signs on a piece of paper or store them in a mobile computer. Once the testing process ended, it would take a fairly long time to record the documented data on electronic charts using computers. As clinical practitioners usually point out, it is very difficult to take vital signs in some cases due to multiple reasons (‘Vital signs and measurements’). In addition, errors are more likely in manual documentation. In several cases, it was reported that physicians use outdated (or previous) patient vital signs to make health care decisions. Undoubtedly, this situation reduces the quality of patient care. Reports indicate that use of mobile computing technology to monitor patient’s vital signs is more effective. Currently, smart phones and broadband-enabled devices assist patients to monitor their own vital signs frequently and to upload the result to clinical servers of healthcare providers. According to, Fernandes, Afonso, and Simoes (n .d.), chances of errors are relatively less under this method. Using this technology, patients can easily make video conference calls and obtain instant health suggestions from medical providers. Experts suggest that this technology represents an effective approach to disease prevention and health care. Currently, hospitals also use mobile computing to provide patients with quality health care services. Advantages and disadvantages of using mobile computing technology The advantages of using mobile computing technology to monitor patients are countless. Firstly, this technology promotes the concept of preventive healthcare as it is characterized with frequent monitoring of vital signs, enhanced patient-doctor interactions, and enhanced information exchange. Another major advantage is that it makes healthcare accessible to even geographically remote patients who otherwise cannot obtain timely and improved healthcare services (Turisco & Case, 2001). Evidently, mobile computing increases the accuracy of patient records. Convenience of time is considered to be another notable benefit of application of mobile computing in healthcare. Since patients can monitor their vital signs from home using this technology, they need not to travel to hospitals frequently and can save their valuable time. Undoubtedly, this technology assists people to cut down healthcare costs including lab expenses and service charges. The mobile technology is helpful to identify various symptoms at the beginning stages so that treatment can be taken earlier. This situation is often beneficial for patients to improve prognosis of the disease and to escape from painful medical procedures. Mobile computing benefits physicians also because this technology allows them to focus more on tasks that require immediate attention. However, this technology has some disadvantages too. The major disadvantage is that mobile computing is not much helpful for older generations because they may not be familiar with the use of smart phones. Since older generations need to monitor their vital signs more frequently than other age groups, this shortcoming reduces the scope of mobile computing to some extent. Finally, some other technical issues including network errors can be a demerit of this technology. Security concerns The application of mobile computing technology in healthcare management is challenged by security concerns. Patient records have to be secure and should not be exposed to external access. However, the mobile computing technology faces the risk of security breakdowns during the course of transmission of personal medical information over wireless networks. The access rights to data, data analysis rights, and data transfer security are some of the major security concerns linked to mobile computing in healthcare management. Many people argue that the HIPAA regulations for medical data must be reevaluated to extend its scope to the use of this new technology. Today, large volume of patient data is transferred electronically through internet and wireless transmission techniques. This situation increases the chances of compromising security and privacy of individuals. As compared to paper based methods, patient records are more likely to be accessed by unauthorized persons under the mobile computing method. Computer hacking is another security challenge to this technology. Once the patient data are electronically stored in a computer system, they become vulnerable to malware attacks. Skimming and eavesdropping can be potential security challenges to patient data while the data are being sent through wireless router or network. The human medical data are recorded in hospitals’ huge databases, which in turn could be helpful for different markets. Therefore, those marketers may try to access patient information through data mining. This situation raises serious concerns over the security of patient data. Use of social networking Social networking can play a notable role in providing group support for patients with similar medical concerns. Social networking provides people with a common platform to share their experiences and to make suggestions for each other. Using social networking, patients with similar medical concerns can meet in common groups and discuss their health conditions. Today, the Mayo Clinic promotes the use of social networking sites in medical field and aids people with similar medical concerns to connect each other by directing them to related social network groups (Mayo Clinic). Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTubue can be used a common platform for discussing medical matters. This interaction benefits patients to feel less isolated and hence to improve mental health. Through this practice, participant would get a clear view of the symptoms, treatment and prognosis of their disease. Experts suggest that this type of interaction would provide patients with a sense of empowerment. Another major advantage of this method is that participants can learn more about recent developments in treatments, physician resources, and other alternative treatment techniques. Evidences suggest that this interaction would influence people to accept their illness and this in turn would enhance their recovery. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that the development of mobile computing technology has a profound impact on healthcare management. Using this technology, today individual can monitor their vital signs without the assistance of a physician. This situation assists people to save their time and money and to treat the disease very effectively. One of the many advantages of mobile computing technology is that it promotes preventive care and patient safety. A potential disadvantage is the threat of security breakdown during the transmission of personal medical information over wireless networks. It is identified that social networking is very effective for increasing the confidence of patients, for the system allows them to interact with people having similar medical concerns. References Balakumar, C. (2012). Introduction about mobile computing. International Journal of Communications and Engineering, 06 (6), 04. 34-41. Retrieved from http://ijcae.org/admin/journals/Journals847.pdf Fernandes, B., Afonso, J. A & Simoes, R. (n. d.). Vital Signs Monitoring and Management using Mobile Devices. Retrieved from http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/bitstream/1822/14605/1/CISTI2011-s.pdf Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/ Turisco, F & Case, J. (2001). Wireless mobile computing. California Healthcare Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.ahqa.org/pub/uploads/wirelessandmobilecomputing.pdf Vital signs and measurements. 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