Mobile Health Apps Must Be Available For The Underprivileged Too

This last weekend I had my phone and wallet stolen. As a result I had to survive the better part of the weekend without being able to access the money in my account or being able to call anyone for assistance if I had needed it. I was bewildered at how irritatingly inconvenient even the simplest tasks became. It was as if the modern world did not take kindly to those who fell behind the curve of technology or access to resources, an assumption I later found holds true for mobile applications in healthcare and less true for me, as I replaced my missing items but see it fit to complain nonetheless.

I have posted a few articles about how amazing mobile technology is in healthcare. As a proud self-confessed computer geek I'm usually all about focusing on the cutting edge of any new technology, especially when it belongs to an untouched market such as healthcare. However, my recent mandatory two day mobile technology vacation made me think about how accessibility to mHealth applications could be extended to those people not fortunate enough to afford the newest gadgets. Luckily I'm not the only one who has thought about this.

In a blog post on Health Unbound I found a good set of criteria for mHealth applications targeted towards under-served  impoverished, or remote communities. A call for the apps to work on even the most basic handsets and be illiterate-friendly resonated strongly with me as areas in which these apps could definitely improve for those less fortunate.

As much as I love my new Android phone, and the potential it has to operate some of the most sophisticated mHealth apps on the market, I feel that the focus of the market needs to expand to avoid ignoring those with the least.

Utilization, Review, Progress

If anyone ever tells you that mobile health applications are just a fad or that there's no way an application on a cell phone could ever be used in healthcare kindly redirect them to this website:

http://www.imedicalapps.com/app-review/



The website I've listed provides an immense amount of data on medical apps which already exist on the market. In addition to just the basic facts about any medical application the website serves as a peer review hub in which medical professionals, working in the field with the technology, are providing feedback on what works and what doesn't. The review sections are organized by top apps, app type, medical specialty, and can also be searched based upon the type of smartphone the clinician was using to run the application in the first place.

As a natural skeptic coming across this site was an eye-opening experience. Beyond the sheer volume of healthcare applications that already exist in the market today, the value of clinicians' experiences with the applications could not be overstated. Medicine is already characterized by their inherent belief in the peer review system, all the best medical journals and research finding are thoroughly scrutinized through this process. The fact that medical apps are now receiving attention from a broad range of clinicians in an organized and documented manner is the beginning of these apps finding a permanent home in the healthcare setting.

More than 75% of doctors already use a smartphone or tablet at work, expect that number to rise.

Body Mapping Is Creeping Up On Us

http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/jawbone-up-99-wristband-rule-life/

The device above is called an Up, made by Jawbone. It releases Nov. 6th and will retail for about $99 and be readily available at a variety of popular stores. It will do a number of things including tracking exercise and sleep and will send the information to an app on your smartphone. The developers have hopes that the wristband will also become a social tool.

I find this application of mobile health technology fascinating from the perspective of informatics. Providing that people actually buy this device and use it, the volume of information that could be obtained about the population of user's health habits would be staggering. Geography, environment, age, gender, and numerous other parameters could be factored in; all thanks to a simple bracelet and an app on your phone.

This is the beginning of a new and inevitable trend in which the technology we wear interacts and records our health. Given that technology will only get smaller, more ergonomic (as opposed to a flashy bracelet), and less expensive (under $99 is quite affordable), it seems that our imminent future is going to be inundated by devices such as these with fewer glitches and more functionality.