How the Healthcare Industy is Embracing Mobile Computing

Mobile Computing in a generic term that refers to a variety of devices that allow people to access data and information from where they are. It transports data, voice, and video over a network through a mobile device. Disruptive, digital technologies are revolutionizing various industries and businesses especially in healthcare. Mobile applications hold the promise to provide patients with improved quality in patient care irrespective where they are along with the immediate access to vital patient records. These applications access electronic medical records (EMR) and now with good investment by healthcare providers to enhance its performance is showing results.

According to the survey of IT healthcare professionals by Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the upcoming top two priorities in this domain are workflow and Business Intelligence (BI). Based on a large amount of the data that is collected by EMR systems, providers are trying to redesign the processes. But the major obstacles that are a challenge to the organizations are budgets and staffing. From the survey, 63 percent of hospitals limit their IT operating budget to remain the same. They are also finding it tough to keep hold of IT professionals that have the advanced skills required to build and maintain the complex applications.

A global survey of 600 healthcare IT decision makers, conducted by Vanson Bourne, mobile devices will be used at nurses’ stations, administrative offices as well as patient rooms. It is also expected that mobile applications will be extended to the teams in clinical care along with administrative staff. “Healthcare providers have to focus first on connectivity to provide a better customer experience,” says Adam Mahmud, healthcare alliance manager, JamF. Mobile applications are also essential to provide a large variety of health applications for a home to decrease the number of patient visits.