mHealth- Revolution in health care
In the last two decades, mobile devices have been a revolution. With the advent of smartphones in our day to day and the widespread use of tablets, we have experienced a change that has been affecting many aspects of our daily lives. There are many reasons that seem to be linked to this great success of mobile terminals: good penetration in the market, rapid acceptance by most of the society and widespread use. Another of the great milestones that have marked the last 10 ten years has been the possibility of accessing the internet through these devices. This has allowed access to information can be done regardless of the location you have: on the street, at work, on the train, etc. We are accessible and we have everything accessible to a click.
What did they say about mHealth?
The most important organizations in the world of health, define mhealth as:
World Health Organization (WHO)
“mHealth is the practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices such as mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, digital personal assistants and other wireless devices.”
HealthCare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
“mHealth is growing fast in practice of medicine and public health supported by mobile devices”.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
“mHealth is used for mobile and wireless devices to improve health outcomes, health services and health research”
New forms of communication between patients and professionals are emerging (text messages via mobile, email, video calls, etc.).
The constant increase of applications for mobile phones offers new tools to the professional service (solutions for clinical records, medical calculators, tools for quick consultation).
Patients are becoming more involved in their care process so that they become experts in their pathology and can carry out the monitoring of signs or symptoms, which are followed and transmitted electronically to the doctor. In this way, you can finally take decisions with your professional about your care process.
With more than 100,000 health and fitness apps are available to the general public, the market stands as the fastest-growing among all categories of apps — and one with little organization. Federal officials are working on guidelines that would ensure clinical apps are properly regulated, but the most of the consumer-facing apps on the market now won’t fall under those guidelines.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health care expenditures are estimated at $ 6.5 trillion annually. The current projection is that, based on population growth, costs will continue to increase per person, and current models of providing health services are not sustainable in the long term. The importance and necessity of finding more effective ways of providing health services.
Conclusion
The most common application of mHealth is the use of mobile phones and communication devices to educate consumers about preventive health care services. However, mHealth is also used for disease, treatment support, epidemic outbreak tracking and chronic disease management.
Good use of them, it will be possible to collect information as never has been achieved, allowing, together with analytical software and artificial intelligence, to improve diagnoses and treatments, especially in cases of chronic diseases.
MHealth opens the door to greater participation and control over personal health aspects that will provide better results, reduce costs and extend a healthy lifestyle.
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