Medical science is constantly exploring and innovating with the technology to change our lives. It’s on a journey to transform the way patients take care of the health and diseases are cured.
Gone are the days when people take the doctors’ appointment and then approach them to diagnose the disease and measure the blood pressure, heartbeat, bodily fluid, or other infections.
The advanced equipment at your home not just measures the health status precisely and accurately, but it is intelligent enough that provides the suggestions to better cure the disease.
Even, the medical devices won’t occupy the large space at the home and get fit in your mobile as software. Yes, it means you don’t need to spend big bucks on the shopping of these devices.
It’s startling! Isn’t it? How easy the health diagnosis has become?
According to a research, “86 percent of healthcare professionals believe that health apps will increase their knowledge of patients’ conditions, and 60% of patients use the mobile app to better track the health in the USA.”
The breakthrough of mobile apps has changed the dynamics of healthcare and the diagnostic industry. With exponential rise of mobile users, the major share of the users has started using the mHealth applications to diagnose the disease in the palm of their hand.
With the increase in the medical application development for various facets of healthcare, FDA has also updated its guidelines.
Let’s view the FDA views on diagnosis apps:
FDA has categorized the medical apps into two- regulated apps and unregulated apps. The unregulated apps that involve educating the patients, provide clinical references or keep track of the health. The FDA will be more focused on to regulated apps that impact patient’s health data safety or involves the communication of patient’s test reports. Such regulated software needs the FDA 510(k) market approval.
The apps are convenient to use, ensure saving, time savvy, and engaging that enable people to stay on the top of their health and fitness. Besides, the app has a lot more to offer that compel the hospitals, clinics, and businesses to build the diagnostic applications that are revolutionizing the world.
Take a look at all those advantages:
1) Promote self-diagnosis
Many times, the patients freak out with the symptoms and immediately consult the doctor to cure the illness. But, the diagnosis apps have turned the table upside down.
Nowadays, the smartphones are packed with many sensors and the Apple has released Research kit framework that supports the diagnose app development and enable patients to detect the disease in early stage.
It provides the opportunity to the people to monitor their health status and follow a healthy lifestyle to stay healthy and fit. iTriage health, Symptomate symptom checker or disease dictionary are some of the apps developed by health professionals to promote the self-diagnosis.
2) Adding a new dimension to remote diagnosis
In the developing countries, finding the clinical facility or doctors availability after every few miles is difficult. That’s where the remote diagnosis of the patients with smartphone apps are great to embrace.
For instance: In Georgia, the mobile app has enabled the people to do their own refractory eye exams and remotely the data is sent to the doctors based on which the prescription of glasses will be given to the patients. But, FDA has disallowed the practitioners to make any prescription considering the data is not so accurate.
It’s a perfect way to bridge the deficit of healthcare professionals in rural or remote areas. Also, the remote diagnosis is helping in reducing the hospital expenses that otherwise would have spent in the hospitals.
According to an institution, “The remote monitoring technologies could save as much as $197 billion over the next 25 years in the United States.”
3) A panacea in emergency situations
During the accidents, when the patient is transferred to the nearby hospital, the staff cannot start the treatment without diagnosing the patients’ health. But, they don’t have enough time to diagnose the patients’ health and a delay in the treatment proves to be fatal for the patient life.
That’s where the diagnosis mobile apps are a great alternative using which any person in the emergency van can take the test of the patient and showcase the same when the van reach to the hospital. This way the professionals can begin the treatment off-the-bat.
Moreover, there are some apps where the complete health history of the patient is stored and certain hospitals are connected with the application. So, based on the quick access to patient’s health data, the professionals can quickly start the treatment.
4) Ease the pharmacists’ job
Mobile health apps are great in clinical decision making as well. After health diagnosis when the patients approach the pharmacist to get the drugs to heal the illness, sometimes the decision to provide the drug will become difficult for the pharmacists.
That’s where the same mobile apps are helpful to them as the drug references or suggestions for the medicines are also provided, which help the pharmacists in giving the best drugs to the patients.
5) Improve the patient monitoring
The patients with chronic diseases or conditions need health surveillance round the clock, but they cannot be made to stay in the hospital forever. The situation becomes terrific when the patients live independently.
This is where the mobile apps are helpful that diagnose the patient’s health constantly and if there is any major fluctuation, then the data is transmitted to the healthcare professionals.
For instance: In the USA, for the patients with sleep apnea, the ECG is connected to the smartphone to diagnose the patient’s condition 24/7 and provide the treatment. It’s considered as a good option as opposed to costly polysomnography treatment.
6) Enhanced accuracy
The studies has proven that mobile devices provide the accurate results when used as diagnostic devices. With the technology advancements, precise coding, side-effects documentation updation and increased medication safety are making the apps more reliable to use for diagnosis purpose.
Even more, the mobile app development is considered as high-quality documentation rather than paper records and reduce the prescription errors.
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The future trends for diagnostic mobile apps…
The best health outcome is the ultimate goal of every innovation the medical science is making. The amazing combination of advanced mobile devices and mobile apps are creating ripples in the healthcare market.
According to the Research2Guidance, “The market for mHealth services has now entered the commercialization phase and will reach $ 26 billion globally by 2017.”
This is not enough, while in 2014, amongst healthcare IT funding, the mobile health companies were standing as the biggest recipient of the VC funding totaling the amount of $1.2B Mercom Capital Group. (Taken from source)
The facts and stats are the biggest evidence that guarantee that increasingly businesses are investing into the mobile health apps to make the people lives easier and reap great benefits.
Especially, the Diagnosis solutions have become the lucrative opportunities for the enterprise that’s contributing around US$ 1 billion of revenues.
How about you? Are you also waiting for the golden opportunity to earn dollars? If so, get partnered with the leading IT healthcare solution providers to craft the best applications, which improve patient health outcomes.