Knowledge on Mobile health and its strategic position in the healthcare system

Health (mobile health) is a general term for the use of mobile phones and other wireless technology in medical care. The most common application of mHealth is the use of mobile devices to educate consumers about preventive healthcare services. However, mHealth is also used for disease surveillance, treatment support, epidemic outbreak tracking and chronic disease management. mHealth is becoming a popular option in underserved areas where there is a large population and widespread mobile phone use. Nonprofit organizations like mHealth Alliance are advocating for increased use of mHealth in the developing world. Advances in mobile phone technology and its applications coupled with equally robust growth of telecommunication technology can serve to give patients a better access to the healthcare. More and more healthcare providers and patients started using these applications. Mobile applications are useful in handling various aspects of healthcare namely, health promotion and disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and supporting health services. Clinical studies evaluating mobile applications often come up with mixed results. In this chapter, application of mobile health technology or mHealth in diabetes management is presented as a case study. We have reviewed ۲۵ articles from pubmed database that fulfilled our selection criteria which included original clinical studies that evaluated mobile health technology in the management of diabetes mellitus. Most studies (۸۸%) reported positive outcomes after use of the mobile health applications in various aspects of diabetes treatment such as disease management, behavioural monitoring and patient education. Educational SMS were effective but inferior to Smartphone Apps or teleconsultations. User-friendliness of the systems influenced patient compliance and outcomes. Smartphone/web applications offer significant benefits for patient care, education and behavioural modifications. As providing continuous patient support would require adequate infrastructure and personnel, cost effectiveness of such interventions need to be studied.

Keywords:

Smartphone appsm , Health , Informatics , Management , Mobile health.