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Reformation of Medical Industry by Healthcare Apps

Aamir Qutub
Aamir Qutub
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If we come to imagine, the impact of mobile healthcare apps on the patients, society and on the entire medical industry at large, it is massive. The medical apps have changed the future of the healthcare industry through its innumerable benefits.

One of the ways, the healthcare apps have benefitted the patients is by giving them better control over their medical decisions. These apps are not only empowering ordinary people to take a right medical decision but also helping them gather more knowledge about the medical treatments.

With an increased concern for health and safety, the demand for health apps is witnessing an upward trend in the medical industry.

As per Statista, in 2018, the mHealth market is predicted to be valued at around $ 33.59 billion.

Upward Trend of mHealth Apps

Here are some of the top grossing mhealth applications

1. WebMD

Web MD App

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The best feature of this medical app is that you don’t require an internet connection to use it and it’s available for both  Android and IOS. This app comes with symptom checker, information related to drugs and treatments besides offering an additional feature to set medication schedules.

2. First Aid App by Australian Red Cross

App Preview of First Aid App by Australian Red Cross

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This is one of the medical apps that assist the patients with a step-by-step advice during any fatal accident or disaster. It educates the patient in the case of an emergency with common first-aid procedures, from asthma attacks to broken bones.

3. Johns Hopkins Guides

Johns Hopkins ABX, HIV, Diabetes and Psychiatry Guides

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This is a highly useful app which can help the patients in getting information about both the medication and treatment related to different illnesses. You can also get information covering the recommended doses and side effects for a specific medicine.

4. Autism & Disability App

App for Children with Autism & Disability

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This is a parenting app designed by Raising Children Network, provides tools and tips useful for the parents of an autistic child. The parents can successfully prepare themselves for the birth of their child, locate local services and understand the disability in a more profound way. It’s available for both Android and IOS users.

5. FollowMyHealth

Follow My Health App

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It is easy to navigate a medical app that allows you to keep track of your own health as well as of your family. You can schedule your appointments, keep a check on your test results, communicate securely with your healthcare providers and can manage your insurance policies too.

In the coming years, you will also be able to perform physical exams through health apps. An app like Hipposoft’s Physical Exam Essentials is apt for both the patients and doctors to easily understand the exam process. It provides a comprehensive overview of the medical exam with some easily review techniques and procedures for 14 different categories.

If you are still in a dilemma and are not convinced about the immense benefits that the healthcare apps bring to the table, find out in the next section in detail how exactly they are changing the game in the medical industry.

How Health Apps Benefit the Medical Industry

According to Statista, last year, there were almost 2.8 million apps available in the Google Play store. Among these, more than 100,000 apps were related to health and fitness.

The demand for health apps by the patients is projected to grow further in the coming years. The global market is massive for these medical apps and is expected to reach $189 billion by 2025.

Doctors also want to be an inevitable part of digital healthcare industry. They are no longer resisting the change and trying their best to understand the benefits it would have on their patients.

Here are a few areas where the healthcare apps are making remarkable changes:

Redefining the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Whenever you fall ill or show any symptoms of uneasiness, then the first thing which comes to your mind is contacting the primary care physician and fixing up an appointment.

It’s a typical scenario that the physician sometimes refer you to a specialist if he/she feels that the condition is quite severe in nature.

There are various healthcare apps that are primarily designed to tackle situations like these.

One of the apps that is designed for similar situations is the Isabel Symptom Checker app.

With a few taps and swipes, you can know the potential causes of your problem and gather more knowledge of your ailment. Thus, it speeds up the process of consultation with your physician or a specialist by showing him/her the accurate results of your app analysis. Overall, this app saves both yours as well as, your doctor’s time.

Isabel Symptom Checker Healthcare App

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There is one more FDA approved app called Kardia, which can help you monitor your heart’s health all day long, thereby making it convenient for your doctor to have an accurate and quick access to your vital heart data.

Kardia Mobile App

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Usually, when the patients leave the doctor’s clinic, they have a very little memory of the steps they need to follow for their faster recovery. So, to avoid the confusion, these apps can serve as a central hub wherein the tasks can be aligned as per their priority like the medication time and quantity, monitoring the side effects of the treatment and transmitting the information to the doctor on a timely basis.

With such an advancement in technology, the patients don’t require to visit the doctor every time. From making an appointment to discussing the test results, follow-ups and medications would be possible virtually through these apps. Moreover, these apps will allow the patients to be more honest with their doctors, as opposed to sharing information face-to-face.

Performing Medical Tests at the Comfort of Your Home

medical tests at home with your smartphones as opposed to, visiting a laboratory to get the exam done. Many crucial blood tests, ranging from a regular blood sugar level check to a fatal virus like HIV can be performed with a convenient smartphone attachment.

These smartphone attachments can help you in getting your basic blood tests such as kidney, liver and thyroid function, urine test and even, breath and sweat analysis done, in the comfort of your homes. The biggest bonus is that these attachments help in providing cost-saving advances to both patients and medical centres.

One of the best examples of this technology is the HIV-reading smartphone dongle, which can be attached to the device easily and quickly. It is not only cost saving but also gives the results in just 15 minutes. Check out the step-by-step demonstration of how this smartphone dongle is used to diagnose sexually transmitted infections.

Helping Improve Mental State

Due to the stigma associated with mental health problems, almost 80% of the youth don’t seek professional medical assistance. With an entry of mobile apps in this area, it’s going to get a much-needed attention by the medical professionals. According to a new study, smartphone apps can serve as an effective treatment to fight depression. Here are the likes of it:

  1. BeyondNow can help you control any suicidal thoughts or feeling through a safety plan. In the toughest of situations, you can easily access and edit your safety plans.
  2. StressCheck helps you measure your stress levels through a clinical test and then provide you with practical solutions to isolate and reduce the interpersonal, physiological, situational or control-related stresses.
  3. MindShift App can also help you in dealing with anxiety issues mainly performance and social anxiety, panic attacks, or any type of worry. It is designed specifically for young adults and teenagers. This app offers great tools to help you relax, change your thinking styles and to have more control over your worries.
  4. ReachOut Breathe helps you bring down the stress and anxiety by slowing down your breath rate. It measures your heart rate through your phone’s camera on a real-time basis and helps you in controlling your breath. It can be downloaded for free from the Apple store.

Conclusion

The mobile apps are providing a number of benefits to patients with its real-time faster responses and ultimate cost-saving. Although the present mhealthcare apps lack the presence of human touch during the medicine or treatment recommendations, increasing development in Artificial Intelligence that future is not very far.

If you belong to the healthcare industry and are enthusiastic about developing your own mheath app, get in touch with your local mobile app developers today!

Aamir Qutub
Aamir Qutub
Aamir Qutub is the founder and CEO of Enterprise Monkey, has a sincere passion for innovation and startups. With an experience of around a decade, he is a proud co-founder of 4 technology startups, focusing on real-world problems and their solutions. He also loves to cook and spend time with his onlyborn.
Aamir Qutub
Aamir Qutub
Aamir Qutub is the founder and CEO of Enterprise Monkey, has a sincere passion for innovation and startups. With an experience of around a decade, he is a proud co-founder of 4 technology startups, focusing on real-world problems and their solutions. He also loves to cook and spend time with his onlyborn.

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