Mahitha Owk
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

WEEK 6 COMMENTARY

The Rapid growing technology is making our life’s more comfortable. The invention of new methods in the field of medical sciences like Laparoscopic techniques provides an opportunity for doctors to treat their patients who live miles away (remote areas). Moreover, this method lowers the risk of infections, loss of blood, less scarring and comparatively quicker recovery (Gabriel I. Barbash, 2010) But the drawback is that the robotic surgery costs million dollars which can’t be afforded by People of all the classes (Anthony R. Lanfranco, 2004 )

With the advancement of technology, mobile phone users are increasing day by day. For example, in US, 91% of the adult population have mobile phones and 52% of them use health apps to monitor their health and gain more information on health this shows the effective growth of eHealth (Eysenbach, 2014 ) These mobile applications are not just used by the public but also they are used by Healthcare professionals for gaining knowledge, Disease diagnosis, Drug references and for monitoring patients health. (Ventola, 2014). However, these apps may not make sense for illiterates because they don’t have enough knowledge to use the technology, so they have to physically go to the hospital for treatment.

These Health apps not only just help people to keep a track of their health, but also helps them to control some bad habits such as smoking, consumption of alcohol and depression. I know a friend who is badly addicted to smoking and he went to such an extent that he can’t imagine his life with cigars but somehow, he got to know about an app called “STOP TABACOO MOBILE TRAINER” which helps a person to control his emotions and anxiety and it actually worked and comparatively he is smoking less than ever before.

They are two faces to a coin, in spite of many advantages of modern eHealth they are also disadvantages, for instance, the private data about the consumers, 18,000 cases have been registered between 2005 and 2011 regarding the theft of the patients’ data. While registering for an app, a person provides personal data regarding his health, family background etc which can be further hacked and used (Richards, 2014)

Bibliography

Gabriel I. Barbash, M. M. a. S. A. G. P., 2010. New Technology and Health Care Costs — The Case of Robot-Assisted Surgery, s.l.: The new england journal of medicine .

Anthony R. Lanfranco, B. A. E. C. M. J. P. D. P. a. W. C. M. M., 2004 . Robotic Surgery A Current Perspective. Annals of surgery , january .

Eysenbach, G., 2014 . Cognitive Factors of Using Health Apps: Systematic Analysis of Relationships Among Health Consciousness, Health Information Orientation, eHealth Literacy, and Health App Use Efficacy. Journal of medical internet research , Volume 16.

Ventola, C. L., 2014. Mobile Devices and Apps for Health Care Professionals: Uses and Benefits. Pharmacy and therapeutics , Volume 39.

Richards, R. A. a. D., 2014. Security and Privacy Issues Related to the Use of Mobile Health Apps, New Zeland: s.n.

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