15 years ago, if I would have told you that you would hold the entirety of human knowledge in your hand, accessible anywhere at any time, you wouldn’t believe me. If I would have told you the number of cell phones with access to this information would be greater than the number of toothbrushes, toilets or doctors, nurses and hospitals in the world, you would call me crazy. If I then told you that you would use that power to look at cat videos, you would be dumbfounded.
Fortunately, the increasing power of technology is not just providing entertainment. Mobile technology is now changing personal choices and overall wellness. 83% of Americans now have mobile devices with 31% of Americans using mobile phones for health information according to research from the Pew Research Center released in November 2012. Understanding the potential of this ubiquitous technology is now essential to improve healthcare.
Four Eras of Technical Change
There are four broad technological trends that have transformed the healthcare industry (and other industries as well). Today we find numerous mobile apps that represent these major technical shifts.
1. Development
Initially technology helped us share information. We created websites, apps and databases. Facts that were once hidden in a library could now be easily accessed. As the information became too great to sift through, entire companies were created, like Google, to help us find the information we wanted.
For healthcare, this meant we now had the ability to find information about diagnoses, research background information, and statistics about providers and facilities and read about new exercises, diets, and lifestyle choices that could improve our health.
While groundbreaking in its own right, this era kept people alone, reading, and learning on their own. Thus the second era was the natural next step.
2. Social
The social era connected readers, patients, and individuals with one another. No longer could someone just be skilled at development to make a world-changing company. They had to have social skills, be able to communicate with other people, and convince them to share their idea or help improve it. Social networks emerged and increasingly recommendations and ideas were shared and received only if our friends or connections told us about them.
For healthcare this opened up the door to patients sharing information, tips, and encouragement. APew Research study found that 34% of Americans share health indicators, meaning they are watching their weight, how many miles they run a day, their blood pressure, etc. and are making it public for other people to monitor. Amazingly 24% of Americans actually follow someone else’s health indicators!
We are truly social beings interested in what other people are doing and taking action based on peer pressure, positive or negative, and recommendations from people we trust.
3. Internet of Things
The current era in technology is taking this desire to track and share to a whole new level by creating relationships with things. We had access to the world’s information from the development stage of technology and were able to talk about it with friends in the social era. Now we are gathering information from the objects around us to tell us more about how we live and to help us improve and control our lives.
The opportunities for healthcare are tremendous when we can personally monitor our world. Knowing how often you exercise because your shoe measures it and automatically shares it with your connections is an example that already exists. The smart thermostat called the Nest, shown here is another example that my dad is already taking advantage of.
Increasingly however, more intricate uses are emerging such as embedding internal monitors in the heart to share information on if there are blockages, installing lights that can change color to improve your mood, and using refrigerators that can tell you if you have enough healthy food on hand.
Gathering data from our individual lives and providing healthcare professionals with this personal and accurate data can transform care and ensure that health issues are prevented before they become bigger problems.
4. Collaboration
The next era for the Internet of Things is to make it collaborative. Currently our devices are beginning to track and monitor our habits and share that information out to the world. However, the people who could help us take action on that data, such as health professionals, wellness coaches, personal trainers, etc., don’t receive it.
We are essentially left holding a wealth of information but no one is telling us what to do with it.
New trends emerging are pointing to a collaboration age of technology where you not only collect personal data and share it publically, but also choose to share it privately with key individuals. Those professionals can then offer advice, support, and tell you when more urgent care or lifestyle changes are needed.
In the marketing world, we already customize websites, emails, and advertisements based on an individuals behavior. If you like golf, the Target website will show you golf products when you visit. If you purchased a book on Amazon, they’ll be recommending the sequel to you the next time you stop by.
Our healthcare however has yet to reach this level of sophistication. Diagnoses and treatments are based on a single test in a single moment in time and what the patient tells the provider. It is now possible to create a unique diagnosis and treatment based on an individual’s lifestyle. If you know their routines and what is possible, you can provide a workout plan, treatment delivery, or other health interventions that will actually be implemented by the patient.
12 Apps Changing Healthcare
Numerous apps have been created based on each era of technology. They are pushing the boundaries of healthcare and opening the door to moving from development to social to the internet of things to collaboration. Here are a few you should know about.
Development
A host of apps provide access to a large swath of data.
Epicurious is a handbook with every recipe you’ll ever need. Special diet or trying to lose weight? Find the food to purchase and how to prepare it in this easy-to-use cooking app.
Fooducate is your partner when shopping for health. Get comparisons of nutritional value and educate yourself on what’s best to eat.
Taber’s Medical Dictionary allows you to hold the entirety of medical knowledge in your hand. Don’t worry, if you need to flatten leaves you can still use your old desktop computer.
Social
Get healthy with support, and pressure, of your friends.
Lift helps you keep track of your goals and connect with other people trying to achieve the same goals. Get encouragement and create habits by measuring activities on a daily basis.
Don’t have someone to run with? Yog lets you start a run with other friends or strangers who are running at the same time. Share the experience and encourage other runners to keep going.
Encouragement might not be enough for some. That’s why there’s GymPact. Earn money by checking in at the gym and pay your friends money when you don’t work out.
Internet of Things
Connect objects around you with healthcare using these apps.
What is a better incentive to exercise than being chased by Zombies? Zombies, Run! makes your workout a game. By setting a homebase, your neighborhood transforms into a video game where you avoid creatures of the night.
The Eatery helps you identify trends in your eating habits and enables the community of Eatery users to rate food that is both healthy and makes you feel good.
Nike+ takes running up a notch by adding cheers from your friends who can support (virtually) you while you’re running. The app will also pick the right music to help you keep a steady pace and achieve your fitness goals.
Collaboration
These apps go beyond the Internet of Things and help you collaborate with health care providers based on your personal data.
23 and Me provides personal genetic testing but also has an app that asks you basic questions and compares your answers with their database of genetic results. Are you genetically predisposed to sleep in?
Ginger.io takes data collection and makes it actionable for researchers, patients, and doctors. Share your results with healthcare providers so you can live a better life based on your personal data.
With STD Triage, you can take a photo of your genitalia and send it in to a panel of dermatologists who can tell you if you should seek medical attention for a potential STD. No more worries about being discreet. Get the answers right from your phone.
What healthcare apps have you seen?
At the recent SDHIMSS Spring HIT Forum, I had the opportunity to speak about healthcare and mobile apps. In addition to the apps I mentioned, the audience mentioned some other great ones including Couch25K.
What other apps should healthcare professionals know about? Leave your suggestions in the comments below.
The future of healthcare and technology
As you can tell, technology is a fast moving field that effects not only healthcare, but industries of all kinds. As we move from the internet of things towards collaboration, think personally about how technology can help you live the life you want to live and professionally how technology can help you as a healthcare provider improve the lives of your patients in a way that fits their lifestyle.
Knowledge truly is power and never before have we had the power to know how to live healthy lives…or how funny cats can be.
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