For the modern doctor, information technology is an opportunity to reach a new qualitative level both in diagnosing diseases and in their successful treatment. Mobile health technology is an essential part of technical support in health care. It implies the use of technology to control human health. Care sponsors and information technology professionals should consider two significant trends, which strongly influence each other, as a part of health information technology (Bruce et al., 2020). The first is health and fitness technology and equipment such as activity trackers, sports watches, wearable sensors, and heart rate monitors. It also includes applications for these devices and standalone programs for managing and monitoring one’s physical condition. These technologies can make life much easier for healthy or sick people, as they can easily monitor their condition.
The second trend that should be considered is technologies and devices for controlling vital signs, treatment, and care of patients. These are systems for monitoring heart function, blood pressure, glucose levels, and brain function. They are also quick analysis techniques (blood, saliva, urine, breathing), modes for elderly care, applications for health monitoring, medication monitoring, treatment planning, and educational systems. In addition, a separate fast-growing segment of mobile medicine is the smartphone health app industry. Four main categories of mobile applications can be distinguished: general health and fitness, health information, remote consultations, and health monitoring and management. In addition, this segment includes electronic medical records: patients can keep track of their doctor’s appointments and all the steps and treatments prescribed. To summarize, mobile technology makes life much easier for both the healthy and the ill, allowing them to self-monitor their treatment and overall health.
Reference
Bruce, C. R., Harrison, P., Nisar, T., Giammattei, C., Tan, N. M., Bliven, C., Shallcross, J., Khleif, A., Tran, N., Kelkar, S., Tobias, N., Chavez, A. E., Rivera, D., Leong, A., Romano, A., Desai, S. N., Sol, J. R., Gutierrez, K., Rappel, C., Haas, E., Zheng, F., Park, K. J., Jones, S., Barach, P., & Schwartz, R. (2020). Assessing the impact of patient-facing mobile health technology on patient outcomes: Retrospective observational cohort study. JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth, 8(6), 1-34.