Mobile Technology: Can it Improve Healthcare?

Relative to other industries, the healthcare field has been notoriously slow in adopting cutting-edge mobile technology and innovations that may significantly enhance and improve patient care. Until very recently, innovations like the cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT) have been largely ignored by the medical industry, but all that is now changing, as medical personnel are learning about the benefits provided by new medical devices which can connect to the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).

Already, wearable devices connected to the Internet of Medical Things have provided doctors with extremely valuable information. This kind of information is far more accurate than a patient’s self-evaluation of how they happen to feel, and it can provide much more in-depth data which can build a complete picture of a patient’s true health status.

A Shift in Healthcare

This new model of healthcare will almost certainly reduce the number of in-person visits a patient must make to a doctor’s office, and that will have some huge benefits all by itself. Doctors will have more time to analyze data provided by remote mobile equipment, and can have a much better picture of a patient’s health than they could possibly derive from a brief session in the office. Over a period of time, data received from mobile devices could provide a comprehensive view of someone’s vital statistics, far more in-depth than an office visit could ever obtain.

The benefits from this mobile technology are so significant, that they are likely revolutionize healthcare in this country. Mobile data which is transmitted to the cloud can provide a complete view of a given patient’s health condition, and can allow physicians to proactively take steps to treat conditions in their earliest stages, before they develop into medical issues that become very costly, and more difficult to treat.

The priceless data provided by these wearable design devices and other remote monitoring equipment has the potential to change the whole medical paradigm from one of sickness treatment to wellness treatment.

Mobile Technology Requirements

While this all sounds like a fantastic development in medicine, it’s not quite immediately available, at least not on a large scale. There are a couple things holding it back which need to be resolved before it can be fully embraced by both patient and medical personnel. First of all, the mobile devices themselves must undergo improved design, such that the embedded transmitters can effectively relay data back to a destination for effective analysis.

In some current devices, the noise generated internally by the device interferes with the capability of transmission, and that has the effect of degrading data transmission. It’s very important that data arrives at an analysis center in a highly readable and usable state, or it will have limited value as a diagnostic or corrective medium.

In other words, there needs to be a very solid end-to-end solution between a mobile device gathering information and the receiving equipment which is tasked with evaluating that information. When this requirement is satisfied, it’s much more likely that use of the Internet of Medical Things will be embraced by the entire industry, and the potential for a real shift in models can take place.

Patient Considerations

Apart from the technological requirements which are necessary to enable maximization of the Internet of Medical Things, some consideration must also be given to the patient end of this model. Patients need to be convinced of the usefulness of such devices, as well as actually wanting to make use of them.

While many patients will adopt wearables reluctantly as something like a necessary evil for their own healthcare, broader acceptance is necessary in order to truly achieve patient approval of the process. If manufacturers can make devices that are more appealing to patients so that they will actually want to participate in their own healthcare management, the process of monitoring vital statistics on a daily basis through wearable devices can become much more regular and reliable.

Only a satisfying customer experience will lead to this kind of continuity and universal adoption of the process. This doesn’t necessarily mean that mobile technology needs to rival jewelry in elegance and appearance, but there needs to be an overall appeal which includes a willingness to constantly use the devices and derive personal feedback from them, which motivates patients to become participants in their own healthcare management.

Healthcare Personnel Requirements

While most medical personnel in the field now realize that the innovation provided by the Internet of Medical Things has the potential to totally revolutionize the industry, that doesn’t equate to fully embracing and supporting the shift. In order to facilitate broader adoption of IoMT systems, and to achieve the most effective patient-to-doctor relationship, there must be cooperation between device manufacturers and medical personnel to bring about the shift to wellness care.

This amounts to a total change of culture in the medical industry, and is likely to lead to a full-blown transformation of medicine that will progress healthcare into a new era. When the time comes that patients, device manufacturers, and medical personnel all embrace the technology and the process itself, this new era can be ushered in.