Healthcare and Apps: A new take

Today there are apps for almost any thing, be it alarms, and games, specific information etc you name it and its there.

Off late there has been a major breakthrough in the mobile app world with the healthcare industry merging and eager to host medical apps. This is a call for new ideas for health care apps to help patients with making informed decisions about their personal care. This invitation is open to healthcare professionals and app developers to submit their ideas for apps that could improve health care eventually. The aim of introducing healthcare mobile apps is just a simple step to promote healthy habits and preventive measures on a general note, but this has a deeper meaning. Patients suffering from major diseases can find specific apps to keep a track on their vital body functioning like keeping a check on blood pressure and sugar levels to name a few. The app experience will provide ease to patient and even enable them to connect with other patients and health care services.

There are a few health care apps already available to use on mobile phones. The top three apps are namely:  

• Epocrates: This app lets user’s view continually updated clinical data, check for drug-drug interaction, identify pills by physical characteristics and perform medical calculations such as BMI (Body Mass Index) and GRF (Glomerular filtration rate).
• Skyscape Medical Resources: Skyscape’s app includes resources like RxDrugs, evidence-bases clinical information on conditions and symptoms, Archimedes Medical Calculator, and MedAlert drug information.
• EyeChart: The Snellen Eye Chart is an eye chart for testing visual acuity. The app instructs users to hold the phone eye chart about four feet away instead of the typical 20 feet.

The key to everything is the cell phone. In 1990, fewer than 12.5 million people worldwide had them, today, 4.6 billion do. While conventional Health care services have essentially plateaued, fierce competition causes cell phone technology to advance rapidly even as prices plummet. Eventually, mobile health care apps will begin replacing expensive and time-consuming lab procedures with cell phone-based diagnostic tools.