In recent years, the use of mobile and web applications has grown in popularity in the healthcare industry. This popularity is primarily due to changing patient preferences. The majority of patients nowadays prefer health-tracking apps and wearable gadgets that measure their vital signs.
Digital Health Apps in the UK
In the United Kingdom, mobile health applications are rapidly expanding. mHealth apps are quickly becoming the standard, as the number of patients suffering from long-term illnesses rises and the demand on the NHS grows.
Medical and public health practices assisted by smartphones, tablets, or other mobile communication devices are referred to as mobile health apps. They offer a novel approach to delivering healthcare services outside of typical locations. They are projected to be a valuable resource for increasing the productivity of health-care personnel and improving patient health outcomes.
In 2018, there were over 318,000 mobile healthcare apps available for patients, according to Liquid-State, with about 200 new healthcare apps being produced every day. This is a shocking figure, and we can presume that it has risen significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
By 2025, the mobile health (mHealth) business is expected to be worth approximately $300billion. Between 2019 and 2025, the tele-health business is expected to increase at a rate of 19%. From now until 2025, healthcare data is expected to expand by 36%.
In general, there are three key advantages to adopting smartphone applications for doctors and other medical professionals:
1. Smartphone apps can increase efficiency within the healthcare industry
Time is critical in the medical industry, especially for physicians. The amount of time you spend caring for patients is shrinking as more patients knock on your door each day.
2. Smartphone apps can reduce the frequency of human error and never events
Accuracy is, of course, always a major concern for doctors. They can use smartphone apps to minimise tangled paper trails and retain patient records in an electronic, easy-to-understand manner. This can help to reduce incorrect diagnoses, prescription errors, and a variety of other perplexing issues. Apps can also be used by physicians for research and collaboration, such as discussing patient symptoms with other professionals to arrive at a more accurate diagnosis or treatment plan. Accuracy helps doctors avoid medical malpractice lawsuits, saving time, stress, and money from within the health service. Doctors can also use mHealth apps to ensure that their patients are taking the correct medication as and when they are supposed to.
3. Smartphone apps can provide greater levels of convenience for medical practitioners
Convenience is an advantage that is virtually equivalent to the two previously mentioned. Medical practitioners now have access to technologies that will help them be more accurate and efficient right at their fingertips. They no longer need to travel, sift through large textbooks, or rush from patient to computer to get data. The most significant advantage of mobile apps is that they are accessible to any medical worker with a smartphone, whether personal or provided by the hospital, and are quite simple to use. Also, many mHealth apps can connect a patient with their healthcare professional, making communication easier and faster. The ability to consult a doctor or receive advice on a condition, symptom, or drug at any time has a number of advantages, the most important of which is the prospect of earlier intervention. If a patient has health problems but is unable to see a doctor, they can use a mHealth app to interact with them. The doctor may feel compelled to intervene, maybe saving the patient's life.
Many individuals believe that mobile healthcare is the way of the future. The future is already here in various ways; "wearables" are now a part of millions of people's lives, and seeing a doctor through an app has never been easier.
Healthcare workers can keep on top of up-and-coming practices by receiving easy access health trends frequently and in real time - providing them with a better understanding of how to proceed with patient treatment.
If you are developing an innovative mobile healthcare app that will change the lives of doctors and patients, the SimDH programme is the perfect fit for you. Find out more and apply for the fifth and final cohort at our website.
