Benefits of Mobile Apps in Healthcare & How it Develops?
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Mobile applications in the healthcare industry enable stakeholders to track patients and cross-check their records anywhere and anytime. With this approach, even if the patient leaves the hospital or lives far away can be easily monitored for his health and offered healthcare guidance.
In this blog, we will discuss how mobile applications are used in the healthcare sector, the benefits of mobile health apps and the use of mobile apps in healthcare domains.
Smartphones are the closest device to users, they carry it around, and it never leaves their hands or pockets which makes it’s the perfect device to assist your daily activities and the most important of all: your HEALTH!
With an estimated number of over 53,054 healthcare mobile apps, smartphones are now considered a healthcare assistant, which means that they provide users with health schedules monitoring and other benefits. Features differ from one app to another, but all with one common goal: use technology and app development to make the healthcare industry better.
What we use to develop healthcare mobile apps
For IOS app development
Programming Languages:
Objective-C: a primary programming language used for building IOS apps. It offers object-oriented capabilities and dynamic typing and binding.
Swift: comparatively a new language, much less code with fewer mistakes, preferred by developers for its speed and simplicity.
Development tools:
Xcode: comparatively a new language used to build native IOS apps. It’s preferred by developers for its speed and simplicity, much less code with fewer mistakes, plus offering all the functions needed for UI designs and testing.
UI Frameworks:
SwiftUI: the best choice for building great UI designs with the shortest codes and make users’ experience marvelous.
For Android app development
Programming Languages:
Java: the most popular language choice for building great UI designs with the shortest codes and built-in libraries and make users’ experience marvelous.
Kotlin: created by developers precisely for Android app development, it allows using Java Virtual machine at the same time.
Development tools:
Android Studio & ADT (Android Development Tools): the first tool is powered by Google and the official platform. It provides user-friendly UI/UX designs for high-quality apps, plus a great variety of features. The second tool offers a graphical UI builder and a powerful package of features.
UI Frameworks:
Jetpack Compose: in addition to the pre-built Android UI software, JC is another UI kit used for developing native Android UI designs with less code, and it introduces intuitive Kotlin APIs.
For Cross-Platforms (support both IOS & Android):
Flutter: a new Google-powered tool, known for its smooth and quick performance thanks to its built-in widgets.
React Native: being the combination of the best of native and React, this tool is the best-in-class JavaScript library for UI designs. It’s quick and simple yet highly functional.
Xamarin: it offers a limited free package of functionalities and other paid features. It provides a complete toolkit plus access to the native APIs.
For Hybrid app development (support both IOS & Android):
Ionic: with unique features, Ionic is the ideal choice for software development, including CSS and HTML5. It has pre-made components and tools that offer great capabilities in app development.
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What are the benefits of healthcare mobile apps?
Patient’s POV:
Mobiles are the best assistant when it comes to organizing our schedules and setting reminders. Everyone knows how important timing is when it comes to medications and doctor appointments. Healthcare apps are specifically made to keep our health on track by making sure we adhere to the doctor’s prescription perfectly: time, dosage, period, etc. The app could go as far as being a refill reminder that could save you from going back all the way to a pharmacy after finally making it home. No more skipping or forgetting or stressing over our health, a mobile app is all we need to save time and avoid being readmitted to the hospital because of carelessness, which saves money.
Healthcare-app-related devices such as blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, etc, are selling out like crazy. The app that accompanies the device has a user-friendly UI design with a detailed guide. This type of healthcare software apps is a blessing, at least our houses won’t be filled with medical equipment, and the pressure of manual record-keeping is gone. The app will automatically record and store your health progress like sugar level, blood pressure, diet, exercise, etc.
Apart from storing data, healthcare mobile apps are a life savior. Monitoring our health and records, the app could detect strange or alarming changes and inform us or our healthcare provider whom we allowed access to our data. Some apps are even backed up by a network of hospitals, medical centers, and emergency contacts that we could add (a local doctor, a relative) so in case of an emergency it could call an ambulance or an emergency contact, and it provides the exact location of the patient. This is very useful for people with heart disease, elders, and people living alone.
Let’s not forget that our new healthcare assistant is not just efficient but also very secure, giving us full control over our records and the option to grant access to whoever and whenever we want. Such Technologies like Blockchain provide high security.
If you want to read more about blockchain: Blockchain technology for the healthcare industry
Currently, some healthcare apps are working on multiple-device integration, which means one app is enough to collect the data from different devices, and it’s revolutionary.
Healthcare provider’s POV:
Smartphones being a reliable healthcare assistant, we feel at ease with our patients being in good hands. Healthcare apps allow us to monitor our patients and check their records from a distance, this way even if the patient left the clinic or lives far away, we still can monitor his health and provide him with better healthcare guidance, it’s a big step for the healthcare industry, it also leads to better diagnosis because electronic health records are 100% accurate so no more worrying about messing up the manual records. Patients no longer need to travel or take time off work, and we no longer need to worry about patients 24/7 because the app will alarm us in case the patient is unstable or an emergency accrued. The app also educates patients about their condition and makes sure they follow our instructions perfectly, which reassures us to no end.
Moreover, we get to keep in touch with the patient which used to be a challenge, watching over his physical health as well as his mental one. Some patients like elders need this amount of attention and monitoring.
Some apps were made for healthcare providers to connect across the health system with colleges, coworkers, office staff, etc. all while not being bothered about security.
Healthcare apps collect data from large groups of patients and the data could be organized according to patients’ conditions and, only if granted permission, the data could be used in research leading to immense benefits for the healthcare industry.
Lastly, the best part of it, we get to keep with the latest evidence-based medical practices through mobile apps which helps us keep ourselves updated and make the health industry better and modern and as a consequence provide patients with the best healthcare service.
FAQs on Mobile Apps in Healthcare Industry
Why are mobile health apps needed?
- Enhanced decision making
- Save unwanted efforts and valuable time
- Boosts performance and productivity
- Continuous access to healthcare stakeholders
What are the diverse categories of healthcare apps?
- Medication monitoring apps
- Emergency medical apps
- Electronic medical records apps
- Fitness and diet tracking mobile apps
What are the most needed features in healthcare apps?
- Push notifications
- Quick chat
- Geolocation
- Payment integrations
- Social media integration
- Feedback and ratings
What factors influence healthcare app development costs?
- Category of mobile healthcare apps
- Technology stack
- Hiring models
- Features and functionalities
- System integrations
What is the topmost priority in healthcare applications?
The mobile applications related to the doctor's access to patients' medical information, details of current & past medications, and healthcare insights have the topmost priority.