As surveys show, patients usually think of a patient app as a tool to keep track of their doctor appointments.
Patient portals that allow mobile booking, canceling, rescheduling appointments, as well as receiving push notifications about a nearing visit are indeed among the most popular apps developed for health consumers. However, they’re not the only ones that exist out there.
In this article, we talk about other forms the concept of a ‘patient app’ can take. Let’s see how the functionality of such apps goes far beyond mere appointment management.
General reference apps
What patients and health-conscious people need more than an appointment reminder, is a portable database with quality health-related information that would keep them away from hospitals. Even caregivers agree that easy access to the most general but accurate healthcare information could both raise health awareness and reduce unnecessary in-person hospital visits.
Reference apps offer just that – information, approved by licensed healthcare professionals and conveniently optimized for symptom-, condition-, and medicine-based search. Along with containing detailed information on multiple ailments and illnesses, these medical apps for patients can give recommendations that were put together by practicing health professionals. What’s more, an app can have a contact chat window to address questions directly to physicians or other specialists.
Diagnostic apps
No app can establish a definite diagnosis without the help of a real healthcare professional. However, it can serve as a patient’s first step before making an appointment, helping them to understand whether their condition requires further examination or isn’t serious. Diagnostic apps offer a short test where a patient should answer questions about their condition as they perceive it. They can be asked to put ticks to mark the symptoms they experience or rate these symptoms on an intensity/pain scale.
For the decision to be more accurate, the result can be given by both an algorithm and a real healthcare specialist. A caregiver of a respective competence will be able to access these filled out questionnaires in an electronic form, analyze them, and either establish a diagnosis or invite a patient for a more thorough in-person examination.
Recovery apps
The moment an in-patient leaves a healthcare facility isn’t the moment they completely regain their health. There’s still a difficult, stressful, and often long process of recovery that should consolidate all the previous efforts of a patient and caregivers.
Post-operative apps, for instance, can assist a person in keeping track of their recovery by comparing their condition to an individually created recovery plan. Such plan can contain daily or weekly standards and show the changes that are expected to happen over time. This way, a patient will recognize symptoms that are listed as inevitable and temporary side-effects as well as immediately identify the signs of a decline.
In the latter case, a patient will also be able to easily contact their caregiver by either giving them a call (if a decline is critical) or notifying them via the apps’ messaging system. In both cases, a healthcare professional will be promptly informed about the patient’s condition change and take measures.
Chronic disease management apps
People with chronic diseases have to spend a lot of their everyday time and energy on keeping track of their health. Even minor inadvertence – ignored physical discomfort or a late/missed medication intake – can sometimes have very serious consequences. Medical apps for patients can make the life of a chronically ill person more convenient.
Chronic disease management apps can provide substantial support for people with chronic conditions by letting them input and track personal health data, set reminders for preventative procedures, as well as check vitals and checks on the go with the help of portable healthcare equipment. All the data gathered by the app is automatically sent to the hospital database and is available to healthcare professionals. In such a manner, a caregiver will always have all the necessary data and be on the same page with the patient during an in-person appointment or an e-visit via a telemedicine app that offers a hands-on alternative to regular visits thanks to its rich functionality.
Medication apps
For some patients it can be difficult to keep their medication intake plan in mind: it can be too complex because of multiple types of medication or unstable due to dosage variation. Alternatively, a patient can have neurological disabilities that would prevent them from remembering the plan. This is a huge risk for their health, and mobile medication apps can significantly reduce it.
Along with prescribing medication, a caregiver can easily create an electronic intake plan individually for each patient and then share it to their mobile app. A patient will be able to use it as a functionally enhanced calendar with medication reminders that can be as concise or elaborate as a patient wants. For instance, an elderly person with Alzheimer’s or a kid won’t mistake the necessary pill for a different one if the app shows them a photo or mentions the color and form of the right pill.
The app can also serve as a means for a patient to renew their prescription remotely, with no need to visit their caregiver at the hospital. For that, they need to send a request and, in some cases, answer basic questions regarding their condition. After reviewing the answers and approving the renewal, a doctor can create a new prescription right in the app and send it over to their patient in the same electronic form.
On a final note
When administered by healthcare professionals, medical apps for patients can help people leave a safe and healthy lifestyle despite their condition. Being always connected to their caregivers and having a reliable tool that can mediate primary diagnostics, show a personal recovery plan, help with a measurement or remind about a pill intake, will significantly decrease patients’ stress and improve their physical and mental state.