A survey from Research Now of 500 healthcare professionals and 1,000 app users found that 72 percent of healthcare professionals thought health apps would encourage patients to take more responsibility for their health. The healthcare professionals were also optimistic about clinical utility, with 86 percent reporting that they thought health apps would increase their knowledge of patients’ conditions.
Nearly half of healthcare professionals reported having plans to introduce mobile apps into their practice in the next five years. Approximately 55 percent responded that they thought apps had the potential to help people who are healthy, and 48 percent said they have the potential to help patients who were recently discharged from the hospital.
Although only 16 percent of the healthcare professionals surveyed currently use health apps in their practices, 59 percent use smartphones in their practice and 28 percent expect to do so in the next five years.
“Mobile apps for smartphones are changing the way doctors and their patients approach medicine and health issues,” Vincent DeRobertis, senior vice president of Global Healthcare at Research Now, said in a news release. “Patients are gathering data about their condition or treatment, ultimately improving their health, or perhaps reducing visits to a physician. Apps are improving healthcare professionals’ knowledge of their patients, while patients feel a lift in their quality of life.”
