The popularity and usage of mobile phones today have increased all over the world. A mobile phone is a smart electronic device used for communication faster and easier. Apart from connecting people via calls, there is another usage as in web browsing, location tracking, and even sending short message service (SMS). In short, mobile phones have become part of our daily lives.
General Benefits Of Mobile Phones
- Faster and easier communication
- Helps in tracking location
- Helps in searching any information via search engines
- Checking/sending emails
- Watching movies
- Playing online games
Health Care And Mobile Phone
The world is growing every day with the newly discovered features of a smartphone. A complete, user-friendly device with a crisp operating system has transformed a mobile into an active device performing the entire task given by a user easily. The functionality of a mobile phone doesn’t restrict only to communication between personal talks between friends and family.
Mobile phones have found ways in different sectors making all tasks easier. Health care is one of the industries which are also blessed with the impact of the mobile device. These electronic devices have transformed a few aspects related to medical practice as interacting with patients, storing information, fixing doctor appointments, etc.
Reasons Why Mobile Devices Are Helpful At Health Care
Mobile technology has a significant influence on the health care sector related to clinical practice, and there are nine reasons related to it:
1. Improved Communication
Coordinations between hospitals/doctors with the patients are made simpler due to mobile devices. Any kind of primary treatment or initial steps to stabilize a patient dealing with a fundamental health issue can be provided by a health care provider quickly via mobile devices.
Understanding the tests, price of the scans, the medicines and dosages are a few kinds of queries that health care providers could answer through a call to help the patients. This kind of quick services benefits in many ways especially saving the time and effort of each individual.
Many times health care providers call up to give reminders to the patients about their appointments on their cell phones. Even insurance companies also get conference calls with the patient party and hospitals through mobile phones.
2. Data Flow
The health care sector is a colossal networking chain with continuous data flow between the patients and health care provider. All the necessary information of the patients is kept, and the hospitals maintain the privacy and security of their information. Keeping track of the patient’s file, medicine prescriptions are done efficiently with the use of mobile phones or tabs.
3. Easy Service
Physical appointments between the patients and the doctors are often conducted through video calls and video conference easily using Smartphone. Comfortable and trendy accessories like a magnetic mobile phone holder can easily help both the parties to rest their phone and continue the initial discussion.
4. Tracking Updates
With the advent of mobile technology, doctors find it easier to access the health reports of the patients. They can easily monitor the health progress and provide necessary measures to manage their health from time to time.
5. Health Care Apps
The inventions of various health care apps on Smartphone have benefitted patients a lot related to their health issues and queries. There are apps related to nearby doctors, online medicines, clinical guidelines, etc. are used frequently by patients. Even there are few specialized apps for checking medical imaging scans. Apps like MIM is a free app for iPad, and iPhone users, which helps in viewing x-ray reports and scan reports.
6. Hospital Information
The patients can easily and quickly check necessary information about specific hospitals or health care provider through their mobiles. Patients can check fees or cost related to any surgery online through their mobiles. They can surely check the review of other patients about any specific doctor or hospitals.
7. Coordination With a Large Number Of Individuals
Each and every day, there are a large number of patients who visits the hospitals. It becomes difficult to serve individuals personally. With the use of patient’s information, nurses or attendants can create profiles in the same group and provide a faster solution to each patient efficiently.
8. Communication Between The Doctors And Nurses
With the mobile devices, doctors and nurses also communicate and coordinate regarding patient’s diagnosis and treatment methods. It often happens that patients or family want to know about the prescription or alternative medicine information. For this reason, they can readily call up the doctor or maybe the health care provider to get the details correctly.
9. Emergency
Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere. Whenever it is related to health, mobile phones serve as the best device to connect to people. For example, any late night attack, or immediate surgery requirement, etc. for all these cases the hospital authority calls up the patient party to give them the details.
Disadvantages Of Using A Mobile Phone At Health Care
Besides benefits, there are few disadvantages of mobile usage at health care too
Inaccurate Information
There are few health apps which claim to provide the user’s heart rate measurement or stress level by using mobile sensor feature beneath the phone camera. But when tested in reality doesn’t give the correct information with that checked on the mobile sensor.
Distraction
Another significant disadvantage of using a mobile phone at health care is a distraction. In case most of the people are on their calls then it becomes confusing for a health care provider to give correct information over the call. Or maybe while on duty if any health attendant starts watching a match or movie using their mobile, then they will get distracted from their work.
Improper Medicine
Few health apps provide wrong medicine details for any particular treatment. Patients who are allergy prone should never try any medicine based online via mobile.
Conclusion
Despite a few disadvantages, the usage of mobile phones has a great impact on the growing health care sector. Not only mobile phones but tabs and PCS as well have helped hospitals in providing better health care to their patients.