Physicians 'Should Urge Patients to Use Mobile Healthcare Apps' - Feature

Doha, December 13 (QNA) - The availability of over 10,000 user-friendly mobile healthcare applications (apps) in global markets makes a compelling case for medical professionals to encourage patients to use them to monitor and improve their health, a senior healthcare expert said Friday. Speaking today to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Sidra Medical and Research Centre (Sidra), Clinical Chief Radiology Dr. Deepak Kaura said, "Physicians should encourage their patients to use mobile health and fitness apps to find recommendations on healthy diet choices to exercise regimens with the potential to dramatically improve the quality of life." Mobile healthcare apps are the new buzz in smart devices markets. There are many apps like cardiac monitoring, diabetes management, weight-loss, fitness and steps tracking. Replying to a question on branch-specific healthcare apps, Dr Kaura said, "There is no limit to who can or how the apps can be used. These offer all the tools, research and services that healthcare professionals need for their work and the patient community needs to interact with their doctors or get up to speed on the latest health topics." On doctors' role, Dr Kaura said, "Physicians should encourage their patients to use mobile health and fitness apps to find recommendations on anything from healthy diet choices to exercise regiments, with the potential to dramatically improve quality of life. There may come a time when physicians will be prescribing mobile apps like medicine to improve the health and well-being of their patients." These apps are versatile. Its efficacy goes even beyond mobile applications to self-examination and self-tracking. They allow easy check-ups, and improve monitoring of health. "Mobile devices like the GlucoDock iPhone plug-in lets diabetics track their blood sugar. Other apps facilitate sending this information directly to the physician to check the patients status remotely. "The VueMe app from MIM Software is the first diagnostic radiology app to receive the US Food and Drug Administration’s clearance in June 2011. The app allows users view and share diagnostic images from their physicians with other caregivers via Mac devices," he said. Asked to list some top apps, Dr Kaura said, "There are over 10,000 healthcare applications currently on the market. Nearly half of smartphone apps available today are for healthcare providers. "The trend now is the do-it-yourself (DIY) type applications that help integrate healthcare provision services into the consumers’ everyday lives. "Among the DIY apps, pre-emptive behavioural change apps are taking the lead with apps like Skin Scan to monitor moles, calorie tracker Lose It!, nutrition app Fooducate, Heart Fitness or an app developed by Cancer Research UK to educate users about signs of cancer. "There are new technologies, which use augmented reality to facilitate communication between physicians. Some exciting applications for Google Glass are in production, such as DocHuddle, which can allow physicians to receive images and data about patients on a wearable computing device." Asked whether there are global regulatory standards for medical apps, Dr Kaura replied, "There are no universally applicable standards for collaboration as yet. "Each country usually has health information privacy laws which must be adhered to. However, standardization is emerging by specialty; Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is the international image standard in Radiology. It is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging." Asked whether Sidra has collected data from any survey of medical professionals that indicates success of med applications, he replied, "In the US, 87% of physicians use a smartphone or tablet for work but, of course, penetration varies by country. Sidra will use paper-lite communications from the onset, and some communication will be mobile app-assisted." On the medical apps Sidra will be using, Dr Kaura said, "Sidra is currently developing a number of mobile applications, mostly focusing on community and personal health. "Sidra has conducted a community survey to identify what is lacking in terms of access to information for people living in Doha. We are using these results while developing the requirements for our mobile applications. "The aim is to equip users with access to information that will enable them to better manage their health. The apps will also empower users by giving them easily accessible tools; these tools will help patients track their progress toward improved health management. "Efforts are on to educate and engage users in unique ways. Sidra mobile applications will explore smart technologies such as augmented reality, gramification, and social media in order to achieve many of its goals. "When fully operational, Sidra's medical staff will have customized applications to review patient records, interact with each other and have the potential to provide remote healthcare services using these technologies." On Sidra's plans in this area, he said, "Sidra is building a future where healthcare applications will enable predictive and personalized care. We want to empower the patient to be involved in their own care, utilizing a diverse range of technologies, including mobile monitoring and extensive patient education materials. "The variety of digital patient support tools, behaviour change apps, Electronic Medical Records, e-prescriptions and remote care such as tele-monitoring and tele-medicine will help people move to a healthier lifestyle and decrease hospitalization through preventative care. "Sidra has incorporated these practices in its care model through Sidra's Patient Electronic Accessible Record of Life (PEARL) system. PEARL is an electronic communications system that will help register, schedule and track a patient throughout his or her hospital stay and beyond, among other functions. We will be able to use it to order correct medication from the electronic pharmacy, which automatically checks for known drug interactions and patient's history of allergy. "PEARL will also chart and track changes to the patients condition, which will automatically alert medical teams within the hospital. All charts, records, test results, x-rays, and lab results can be combined, and viewed through one portal. "During the patient's stay, PEARL will manage the patients' beds (monitoring for the possibility of bed soars or in case a patient falls out of bed), appointments, meals and transport within the hospital. PEARL will also allow the patients to support and monitor their own care with the detailed discharge plan that they, and their healthcare providers, can access anywhere, at any time." (QNA)