From Mobile Pharmacy to Instant Diagnosis – Here’s How Mobile Apps Are Assisting the Healthcare Sector
Imagine your smartphone without an app. It would remind you of the old-fashioned cellular phones used in the 20th century. No more! Things have taken a 360-degree turn with the onset of these potent little tech tools known as mobile apps. Their true-blue awesomeness in making our lives easier has secured them a permanent place in our smartphones. They have made our phones much livelier, more vibrant, helpful, intelligent, powerful; you name it.
So, it was just a matter of time before this revolutionary tech caught the fancy of businesses. And its trajectory towards the healthcare sector was quite noticeable and, in the process, aided this industry’s massive metamorphosis with apps being used for all kinds of operations to make both physicians’ and patients’ lives much more manageable.
For the unversed, healthcare offered via mobile device is also known as mHealth. The term mHealth refers to the accessibility to medicine and healthcare services through mobile devices. According to Businesswire, the global mHealth market will touch a whopping $201.24 billion by 2021, up from the $183.30 billion mark in 2020. Unsurprisingly,
The mentioned trends in the market show the increasing adoption of mobile health services. In this post, we’ll talk about some of the significant challenges faced by the healthcare sector and the ways healthcare apps are helping them to overcome them.
How Mobile Apps Are Assisting the Healthcare Sector
Mobile apps are widely used for information & time management, health record maintenance & access, communication & consulting, reference & information gathering, patient management, and many other purposes. As mentioned earlier, the healthcare sector usually faces many challenges while doing chores. But these challenges have been easily taken care of with the introduction of mobile apps.
Let’s discuss some major reliefs by mobile apps that assist the healthcare sector.
Pharmacy apps
Access to medicines differ based on demographics and geographical locations. It’s easy to find all types of drugs and pharmacies in urban areas. However, things are different in rural areas, especially in challenging terrains. Rural folks face a lot of hardships when it comes to having access to general physicians, let alone essential medicines.
To plug in the urban-rural gap in medicines, mhealth app developers have launched a few E-pharmacy apps like Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid, and PharmEasy. These are among the top-rated pharmacy apps used in different parts of the world. Although these apps started on websites, their availability on mobile devices has made them handy for ordering medicines and related essential supplies.
By activating notifications, users can get real-time information about the status of their order dispatch and real-time location. These apps offer their services uniformly to every place, regardless of terrain or demography. Additionally, they offer attractive payment options ranging from cash on delivery and card payments to pay later.
Diagnosis apps
Thanks to AI and powerful algorithms, it has become possible for a mobile device to diagnose a disease based on the health parameters of a person. For example, e-diagnosis apps predict a person’s illness by using their built-in algorithm that analyzes vitals such as Temperature, ECG, heart rate, and SpO2, or conditions such as pain and nausea.
Diagnosis apps are pocket-friendly and the cheapest means of detecting a disease. Moreover, the biggest perk of using these apps is that people get their results instantly. Therefore, accuracy is the, hence, accuracy aspect of these apps, so developers are looking forward to building more intelligent algorithms that correctly diagnose the condition of users.
Although diagnosis apps are becoming more and more reliable, it is still advisable to consult a doctor for the users to confirm their condition and receive the proper treatment.
E-consultation apps
E-consultation apps connect a user to numerous doctors with expertise in different fields, such as gynecology, cardiology, Dermatology, Diagnostic radiology, family medicine, and much more. In addition, these apps help users connect with their existing doctors and provide tools to share diagnosis results and receive a doctor’s prescription.
Consultation apps offer video and voice calling facilities depending on the doctor’s and patient’s preferences. These apps are equally helpful for patients looking for the right doctor. New users can go through the list of experienced doctors based on their field of practice and rank based on user experiences.
E-consultation apps proved a boon during COVID-19 when everybody was locked in their houses and having access to a doctor was nearly impossible. Like diagnostic apps, e-consultation apps are cheap and come with multiple offers for new and existing users. MDLIVE, Lemonaid, Plushcare, etc., are some popular e-consultation apps.
● Nutrition and Diet monitoring apps
Nutrition and Diet-monitoring apps are becoming increasingly popular amongst fitness enthusiasts and patients on a diet. These apps help people monitor their daily calorie intake based on their food consumption. In addition, nutrition apps peIn addition, nutrition stores calorie intake records using mobile storage so that doctors can monitor the diet of their patients and can access records for better judgment.
Nutrition and diet monitoring apps are beneficial for people looking for weight loss as they, based on their health info, such as height and weight, can figure out the perfect diet plan without consulting a dietician.
Nutrition apps are emerging as a very profitable market, and it’s predicted that by 2021 the revenue generated by these apps will reach US $4.261 billion. MyFitnessPal, MyPlate calorie counter, and MyNetDiary are popular Nutrition apps available on Google and Apple app stores.
Vital monitoring apps
Vital monitoring apps are one of the most used genres of health apps nowadays. These apps are generally paired with smartwatches, fitness bands, and other smart wearables. These wearable devices continuously collect health-related data using special sensors and send it to these apps for users to view and monitor.
Usually, most of these wearables have a display where you can check your health-related parameters directly. But these apps give a more extensive and accessible view of vitals; moreover, people can check the trends and patterns of the vitals over time.
ECG, oxygen saturation(SpO2), blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, sleep, glucose, etc., are some of the most common vitals these wearables monitor.
Health, an app by Apple, is the best example of vital and daily activities such as steps, miles, and distance monitoring apps. The app analyzes data based on Apple Watch’s information and helps users monitor their health vitals. This app has proved itself very reliable and life-saving in many situations.
Wrapping Up
Mobile apps have made lives easier, such as shopping, booking salon appointments, ordering food, and learning. In the same way, mobile apps have revolutionized the healthcare sector regarding how doctors provide treatment and patients receive it.
This post listed some of the most revolutionary mobile apps that have made healthcare more accessible to the public. Healthcare apps make healthcare affordable, from ordering medicines, consulting doctors, diagnosing diseases, and monitoring health vitals.
Healthcare apps offer pocket-friendly access to healthcare for users irrespective of their location. These apps proved to be a boon for the public during the Covid-19 pandemic when the resources and availability of doctors were scarce. Mobile app development for healthcare is a compelling market, so developers and innovators should consider investing in this field.
Author Bio:-
Darren is a writer passionate about Technology, Business, and the evolving relationship between the two. He often tries to bring intriguing perspectives to otherwise familiar ideas, striving to help his audience reimagine the ever-changing tech landscape. In addition, he works as a blogger and content marketeer at GoodFirms—a leading review and rating platform built to help brands pick the right service providers for them.
