Healthcare Mobility: A Way to Go

A decade ago having a mobile with basic features symbolized reputation but, today, it is these devices around which the entire world of any individual, or for that matter, any industry revolves. The evolution of these simple devices into smartphones has had its impact on enterprises, just as good as the consumer segment and healthcare industry was no different. With the emergence of these advanced gadgets and new technologies like Wi-Fi and NFC (Near Field Communications), the individual and enterprise today have access to systems and information anytime, anywhere, resulting in increased efficiency. The hospital industry players have also embraced mobility by providing real-time access to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) that comprise of a wide array of information right from demographics to patient health charts to billing details, on the physician’s device, aiding her in better treatment of their patients from any place in the world.

Over a period, we have seen the healthcare industry come a long way, from treatment that involved paperwork to hospitals, where patients have RFID tags, furnishing the staff, real-time info about the patient. The industry had tackled the issue of paper based data collation from umpteen resources, for years, a process that involved more time and errors. There were a couple of other challenges too. Every member of the caregiving team held information that somewhat varied leading to improper coordination within the team. The rise of smartphone led enterprise mobility solutions has been aiding the physicians and nurses with accurate and up-to-date information on inventory and assets that help them take better decisions for their patients, resulting in heightened productivity and revenues.

The introduction of mobility into healthcare operations can create an opportunity for the caregiving team to communicate with each other on an instant basis, decreasing the response time by increasing access to data, anytime, anywhere. This kind of unified communication system with better user interface and user experience across multiple devices provides a platform where a team of physicians, specialists, pharmacists and nurses can coordinate with each other to render quality service. The medical equipment with built in Wi-Fi modules are now gaining momentum with data sharing becoming indisputable. Mobility has hit the healthcare education system as well and resident trainees are developing their skills by adopting this technology to support lab and clinical education and accessing real-time answers to their queries by using relevant apps on their tablets. Although physicians, concerned with the interface and security issues might be reluctant to adopt mHealth solutions, apps developed for the enterprise are gaining traction and the competition seems agonizing as the number of solution providers is inflating, giving an extra elbow room for the healthcare mobility market.

Taking a leap from the current scenario, cloud computing can be predicted as the future of the healthcare industry as it promises to gather data in an effective and effortless manner, bringing in a change in the process. This cost-effective technology can prove to be more pertinent for small clinics and hospitals as it does not require a huge IT staff to maintain and service in-house infrastructure. Healthcare service centers adopting cloud-based applications will have a competitive advantage as these resources can focus on other issues which impact business operations and prove to be efficacious in delivering better care to the patients.

Mobile solutions in the hospital industry enable faster information flow and can be utilized by the caregiver, without any hindrance, for efficient operations. With the metamorphosis that mobility has brought in the way hospitals run their businesses, it is beyond the shadow of a doubt that mobility is soon going to remodel the enterprise physiology.