The healthcare world is always looking for ways to advance and adopt the latest technologies to help find solutions to modern day medical problems and assist them in aiding patients directly. One of the newer areas of technology that’s beginning to grow in the medical business is mobile devices. When their medical applications first appeared on the scene, they were derided as novelty items that didn’t offer any real solutions to medical business problems. However, within recent years, their increased capabilities have made them an advanced tool for hospital doctors and consulting medical professionals everywhere. There are a ton of areas where smart phones and tablets are making the lives of doctors, surgeons, clinical nurse specialists, EMTs, and a ton of other medical workers much easier. Let’s take a look at just what they’re doing:
Text Message Reminders and Email
When you think about advanced medical technology, you don’t usually think about something as simple as text message reminders and emails, but it’s important to remember that a doctor’s schedule is incredibly chaotic and that they’re regularly on the fly while going from patient to patient. The simple fact that doctors don’t have to worry about getting back to his or her own office to check on an email or worrying if anyone’s searching for him means they’re able to spend more time seeing patients and addressing their needs.
Electronic Libraries
In the old days it was pretty common to see a copy of the Physician’s Desk Reference within each doctor’s office. There are thousands upon thousands of drugs out there, each with their own specific warnings, dosage suggestions, and allergic reactions to watch out for. Nowadays there are apps physicians can download such as Epocrates, which is a database full of basic drug and dosing information. There’s also Uptodate, an app that allows doctors to consult a large catalogue of reference material for assistance in making decisions for treatment. There are tons of other apps out there, such as for X-ray viewing and ear viewing/recording. The fact that it’s standard for mobiles to have cameras as well means that taking pictures of rashes or spots and instantly uploading it into a patient’s medical file is easier than ever.
Device Features for Doctors
Phones are by far the most popular mobile device today, and they’re the ones that most doctors are flocking to. Doctors have much different things to consider when purchasing a device than normal consumers, and companies are starting to take note. For example, the Nokia Lumia 930 is a new smart phone that’s showing great promise as an advanced healthcare tool. It has all sorts of great features ideal for physicians, such as strong battery life for long clinical shifts. It also has a powerful camera for medical documentation, a high resolution screen to see as much detailed information as possible, and also comes standard with a ton of business apps, such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, OneNote, AdobeReader, along with other common programs that doctors use on a daily basis.
While these technologies still may be rather new in the world of medicine and surgery, they’re showing a ton of promise and are already starting to cement their place as a standard tool in advanced healthcare.