Mobile apps have become central to healthcare in recent years,
allowing providers to provide care and perform daily tasks without
much change. These apps let clinicians access essential information,
connect with colleagues, and conduct vital tasks from their
smartphones. Through the swath of technology, mobile apps simplify
processes, drive real-time decision-making, and ultimately improve
patient outcomes. Healthcare has become an ever-evolving space, so
mobile applications play a key role in giving healthcare providers the
resources to provide quality care efficiently.
Clinical efficiency matters most to clinicians with the mounting
demands of patient care. As patients’ loads increase, compliance
demands rise, and access to data is at an ever-rising pace, providers
have to optimize workflows to provide the best possible care.
Efficient clinical practice leads to increased patient satisfaction
and cost and error reduction. With mobile apps, everything from
appointment scheduling to electronic health records (EHR) is
streamlined, leaving doctors free to focus on the patient and less on
bureaucracy. Thus, integrating mobile technologies in the care
environment is no longer a luxury but a requirement for achieving high
levels of efficiency.
With the intention of this blog, we will learn how smartphone apps
improve clinical productivity for mobile healthcare practitioners.
Here, we’ll explore some of the highlights of these apps, how they can
support clinical workflows, and practical use cases showing their
power. Additionally, we will explore providers’ struggles with the
adoption of mobile solutions and trends for mobile health in the
future. With better insight into the capacity of mobile apps to
increase clinical productivity, clinicians can use such tools to drive
practice and patient care.
Among the most imperative features of new mobile apps for healthcare providers is the ability to access the patient chart in real-time. This functionality includes seamlessly integrating with the electronic health records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR) systems around a secure network. Providers can sift through patient information on their mobile devices, pulling up critical data such as medical histories, laboratory results, prescription lists, allergies, and more to aid in making proper clinical decisions for the patient. Interrupted workflow can severely impact patient care or clinical outcomes due to lag time and time-to-action. Mobile charting apps allow providers to log patient encounters, update orders, indicate patient status, enter notes relative to an encounter, and more from anywhere. If a note is made mid-admission, it’s saved, uploaded, and available for viewing immediately.
For the successful delivery of quality care, it’s important that secure communications can take place between someone who’s providing healthcare and someone who’s receiving it. Mobile apps provide functions to enable both these types of communication. Secure messaging is one example of a mobile feature used by healthcare providers and teams to chat safely with each other in real-time. This messenger type is developed from the ground up to comply with federal and state privacy laws and safeguard sensitive patient data during user app workflows. These messenger functions can also help ensure that care teams maintain their relationships during their work. We’ve also encountered client requests for mobile apps with patient communication features, where healthcare providers could initiate patient messaging, either for appointment reminders for health updates or for sharing resources to support their education about a disease or an injury. In our experience, this two-way communication resulted in more satisfaction. Sometimes, it felt like it created a stronger bond between the providers and the patients receiving care – something one shouldn’t underestimate.
Mobile applications for providers also contain advanced task management and appointment scheduling features that can improve the efficiency of clinical operations. Appointment reminders help reduce the likelihood of a no-show by advising patients about upcoming visits and encouraging them to come in for their appointments. Additionally, workflow management tools allow providers to organize and track the status of the day’s work, delegate tasks, and stay informed about completing other patient-related activities. These features can help increase the efficiency of operations by saving time with enclosed tasks and encouraging providers to spend more time with patients by reducing their time on administrative tasks.
Apps that streamline workflow and reduce time spent on administrative tasks significantly improve the time management of healthcare providers. Recent advancements in mobile technology have enabled the development of time-management tools that help providers spend more time with their patients instead of checking records. Real-time access to patient data and mobile charting also boost provider productivity, allowing them to complete tasks without switching between multiple systems or paper records. Mobile technology has, for instance, helped automate appointment scheduling, reminders, and task completion workflows that providers would otherwise have to perform manually. With these tools, providers can allocate more time to face-to-face patient encounters and less on administrative tasks. Overall, these tools improve the effective use of the time spent by healthcare professionals. Healthcare providers can address more patients and provide them with timely care.
Mobile apps help improve collaboration between healthcare providers. If set up correctly, they allow team members to share relevant information quickly and conveniently from wherever they are and update each other about their patients in real-time, which helps to coordinate their actions. For example, hospitalists and home care providers can now interact directly so that care is planned and executed only once, and other team members (such as the primary physician and the primary nurse) can look up relevant information during patient visits. Coordinated patient care is critical because it helps avoid errors and duplicative tests while ensuring timely and effective treatments. Mobile apps create cultural norms for better teamwork, effectively improving patient outcomes.
Mobile apps also increase patient engagement, which improves health outcomes. When patients can access health information whenever they want it, including lab tests, medication lists, and educational content, they become more engaged in their health. Additionally, features that facilitate continuing care – such as reminders for follow-up visits, secure messaging with providers, and health recommendations based on their history – keep patients motivated to follow through on their care plan and maintain contact with their care team, which improves their health outcomes by keeping them engaged in their care.
One main issue that healthcare mobile app developers face is securing private patient information and the security of these apps. Following the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has been the norm in the healthcare industry as this law guarantees certain rights to participants in a healthcare system about the use of their healthcare information. Mobile app developers should ensure that their apps have features that allow for data encryption and secure access without exception, if possible, to avoid possible authorized access and breaches. Maintaining the standards of this law through the use of strict security protocols helps to ensure this. Developers and healthcare providers believe it is possible to have mobile health applications without exploiting their patient's data if they can put in place efforts to create secure systems and applications.
However, another important factor is usability, as mobile apps must be designed to promote user adoption among healthcare end users. Simple, intuitive interface designs could increase user satisfaction and uptake. Complex navigation or unintuitive designs can be frustrating and discourage provider use of the technology – so a primary consideration for developers is making the app accessible to a broad spectrum of user types, accounting for varying comfort levels with technology among providers. Additionally, with any new technology, adequate training and ongoing support are required to facilitate the implementation phase of the development process. By amounting to usability and prioritizing training resources, developers could increase uptake among user groups, thereby improving user satisfaction and maximizing the potential benefits of mobile apps in the clinical setting.
The empirical integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms into mobile health tools opens promising avenues for clinical practice improvement. Predictive analytics, in particular, offers the possibility of extrapolating clinical and patient data to predict health outcomes and identify risk factors in select patients, ultimately enabling preventive intervention to prioritize the timely detection of underlying health conditions. Large databases with considerable volumes of historical and real-time information can furnish knowledge that AI algorithms may utilize to inform clinicians in their decision-making and patient management strategies. Adjusting to each patient’s distinct needs using classified AI derivatives can aid physicians in providing highly personalized care plans that align with each patient’s historical medical records, lifestyle elements, and preferences. Such personalized care recommendations not only improve patient care adherence and, therefore, outcomes but can also facilitate more efficient delivery of medical care.
Another significant trend is the continued advancement of telehealth capabilities. The ability to remotely monitor patients’ vital signs and health indicators is a major factor influencing app development trends for healthcare organizations. By keeping track of patients’ health metrics and vital signs in real-time, providers can intervene and potentially avoid costly visits to the clinic. This allows patients more freedom and reduces the need for in-person visits. For instance, we already see remote monitoring capabilities used in chronic care management, giving providers a continued view of a patient’s health over an extended period. With the expanded use of such tools, care can be administered virtually, resulting in enhanced patient compliance and better long-term health outcomes. Furthermore, virtual consultations and follow-up appointments provided through mobile apps are increasing patients' healthcare access and convenience. These channels will foster better engagement and participation with patients and boost their confidence in taking ownership of their health. This would reduce the workload on healthcare facilities and free up capacity for the providers to deliver service and ‘up’ their load.
To summarize, mobile apps for healthcare providers are becoming imperative in achieving clinical efficiency in modern-day healthcare institutions. By allowing round-the-clock access to patient data, enabling clear communication among healthcare teams, and improving task management, these apps make it easier for health providers to offer real-time care. The advantages of the apps are vast and go beyond convenience. They foster teamwork among the healthcare teams, improve patient engagement, and facilitate better health delivery with more optimal outcomes. However, with non-stop technological advancement, adding more improved and tailored functionalities through augmented artificial intelligence, machine learning, and expanded telehealth features will render the apps irreplaceable for health providers. This is an imperative solution for healthcare institutional organizations aiming to improve the workflow within their clinical premises with the advent of changing technology and fast-paced patient care.