MEDICAL APPS:
POCKET TO PRACTICE
Dylan J. Chadwick
Physicians Office Resource
Staff Writer
V
programs to help in monitoring treatment
schedules and regimen. Epocrates, Medscape
and UptoDate all began as desktop computer
programs in the 1990's, but have since become
the three most downloaded medical apps.
The reality is that apps are becoming
increasingly more integrated into the daily
healthcare model, transitioning from a simple
access point of information to actually doing
medicine in various capacities. Diagnostics,
telemetry and even therapy have moved into
the forefront as physicians and patients alike
can use smartphone and mobile devices to
perform tasks as varied as recording vital signs
and levels to performing ultrasounds via
Bluetooth technology.
ast connectedness and mobile
access to infinite archives of
information may be calling cards
of the smartphone, but as
microchip and touch-screen
technology continues improving and mobile
app functionality becomes increasingly more
powerful, they're becoming viable replacements
to full-on desktop computers in many
industries. A tool with quick internal computing
speed, a connection to the internet and workspecific software all contained within a single
pocket-sized device seems an obvious wondertool for physicians though. It allows them to
quickly access cloud-based patient files, to
reference an archive of drug interactions and
symptom data and even transfer specific data to
other mobile users within the command chain,
streamlining workflow throughout.
These, and an endless host of other
functions in and out of the healthcare industry,
are made possible by apps. You already know
this of course, as the data suggests it. A
physician's news article (Five Great Medical Apps
for Doctors; Surgeons) reports that 9 of every 10
physicians are actively utilizing smartphones in
their daily practice. The app market's full to
bursting too, with roughly 44,000 medical apps
alone, currently available for download.
As it stands, drug reference ranks as the
most popular medical app function, according
to a Modern Healthcare report. However,
medical apps also stake their claim in their
ability to communicate health information
between physicians or directly to patients, to
facilitate reference to giant tomes of health
information or even to create reminder
Besides the obvious...
Besides all the gadgety zips and whistles
though, how are mobile apps really making
changes in the day to day happenings of the
working physician's day?
For one, they're streamlining workflow and
lending greater remote capabilities to these
physicians. Apps can keep a working physician
in direct communication with a laboratory, an
assistant, another physician and even a patient
without them even having to leave the office,
make a call or write an email. Think about the
technical benefits there. In a KevinMD article
(Medical Apps: We're Approaching the Tipping
Point) Joe Flower describes an app that syncs
with a Bluetooth-connected pill. The pill sends
a signal to the application when it has...
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