Going to the hospital sometimes to seek medical care can be very uncomfortable. You have to wait in line to see the doctor/consultant, wait for a medical staff to get your file as you watch the gloomy and impatient faces of other patients around you who desperately want to get attended to immediately, the same way you do.
Now that we are in the digital era, things are becoming a lot easier. Thanks to technology, our mobile phones can now access HealthCare apps, even at the comfort of our homes.
Our smartphones have become a huge part of our lives that we constantly rely on them to manage our time, organize our work and business schedules, stay informed as well as connected and now we use them to book doctors appointments and a whole lot more.
The healthcare Industry has experienced a significant amount of growth over the years. With the introduction of mobile applications, patients and medical professionals are able to communicate in a more efficient manner.
With telemedicine, you get to speak to doctors virtually.You can also have all your needs attended to without leaving your home.
A country like Nigeria having a huge population, telemedicine is one of the most welcomed and appreciated innovations.
Healthmobile apps offer 24/7 virtual assistance to patients by connecting them to certified doctors through call, text, or video calls. These applications allow doctors to learn about their patients’ symptoms and provide digital prescriptions (if required).
How Do HealthCare Mobile Apps Help?
1.Reduced Cost
The launch of mobile apps in the healthcare industry has provided a good solution for reducing fees for patients. Since most of the tasks can be done through app, it will help in easing the burden off your pocket. Moreover, you can also choose the hospital according to your budget.
2. Improves Patients and Doctors Engagement
By nature, doctors are very busy people, running from one emergency to another. Tools like mobile healthcare apps are able to improve patient engagement since they are very easy to use.
3. Data Tracking
Patients can use health and fitness apps to track their personal health data, such as measuring weight, blood sugar level, blood pressure, heart beat, cholesterol level etc.Doctors can access this data in real time to quickly make diagnoses, identify life-threatening changes and analyze sudden symptoms of patients.
4. Home Healthcare is Accessible
With the help of healthcare mobile apps, patients can access home healthcare. Not only elderly people can benefit from this but also individuals with different conditions like special needs or a disability, the aged who need special assistance, people recovering from an illness, or suffering from a life threatening diseases and more.
5. Easy Access to Medical Reports
It is due to medical apps that the patient and the doctor can access their medical reports anytime, anywhere. In situations when a patient moves from one healthcare professional to another, this data can be accessed to make quick medical decisions.
6. The Risks of Wrong Diagnosis is Reduced
A number of cases have occurred where patients lives were endangered due to an error in diagnostic approach in few hospitals. Thankfully,healthcare apps have nullified such issues. Since doctors receive an accurate report of a patient’s health condition through these apps, it helps them to prescribe the most accurate medicine with the right dosage.
Most Common Mobile Application Types For HealthCare
- Diabetes apps, for monitoring blood sugar levels
- Pregnancy apps,for tracking a baby’s growth
- Weight loss apps, for recording progress and fitness gains
- Chronic illness apps
- Patient medical health tracking apps
- Doctor appointment & clinical assistance apps
- Telehealth mobile apps (doctor-on-demand apps)
- Reminder apps – include medical tracking or health habit tracking apps
- Medical reference or database apps
- Diagnosis apps for preventive purpose
- Healthy lifestyle apps
- Mental health apps
- Dieting apps
More mobile health apps will likely continue to emerge as the years go by.
If you ever need to learn more about some of these healthcare mobile applications and how they work you can visit the website of some of the most common healthcare apps used in Nigeria which include:
DRO Health, Omomi, MyPaddi, Find-A-Med, Medscape, Hudibia and many more.
