Mobile Computing in Healthcare, Essay Example

The face of modern medicine has changed since the golden erawhen doctors made house calls. As of 2012, the average American spent about $7,600 a year per person on health care, one in two adults lives with chronic disease, and the average wait time to see a doctor in a metropolitan area is twenty days (Zimmerman, 2012). The time delay between patients visiting doctors for tests  and waiting for help during a crisis like a heart attack or stroke costs Americans, both healthy and with chronic disease, their quality of life and increased health care bills.

Doctors have to deal with time consuming hardware and software issue in addition that add more delays in patients receiving treatment (Mobile Security Work Group, 2011, p. 6). Healthcare facilities have to support hundreds to thousands of desktop computers, having doctors needing to use multiple desktops every day. Each time they use a device, they must be authenticated to ensure compliance with regulations. These problems have become a standard for in-patient visits where doctors and patients had to wait between doctor and ER visits. Many of these pitfalls are on the verge of being eliminated entirely by the new frontier of mobile computing.

Looking forward ten to twenty years from now, mobile computing can put an entirely different face on the healthcare industry. Sensors placed under the skin could detect patients vitals, and alert a patient’s doctor in real-time to make adjustments to medication (Smith, 2011). Other devices placed in a toilet could monitor how a patient adjusts to medication, while monitoring other like being borderline diabetic, which a doctor could make suggested dietary changes. This type of intervention could prevent heart attacks, strokes or other medical crises.

In the present, doctors are able to constantly monitor their patients past the confines of a trip to a clinic or hospital, even though mobile computing is in its infancy. Doctors can connect directly to their patients anywhere within a hospital to wherever their patient goes, as long as there is a wireless connection. Patients can get sent home with portable devices with real-time readings to keep doctors informed of their patients’ health. The following example shows how this technology is streamlining the health care industry.

Back in 2005, Stephen Moore, a software engineer, and Dr. Cameron Powell, an obstetrician created an app to use on Dr. Powell’s smartphone, even when he was not at the hospital (Zimmerman, 2012). This app allowed him to monitor a fetal heartbeat and contractions in high-risk deliveries. The app’s creation led to the development of AirStrip Technologies and their first product, the AirStrip OB. The device connects to different devices like a ventilator or fetal heartbeat monitor and be accessed whether the patient is in the ER, ambulance or hospital room, where staff are ready to treat the patient when they arrive.

The positive effects of mobile computing compared to in-patient visits are already evident. A trial program started by the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs in 2003 used messaging devices and videoconferences to let chronically ill veterans stay in touch with nurses and health care professionals, with 71,000 vets now receiving this care (Smith, 2011). Initially patients received a device with a small LCD with four buttons that let them keep in touch with a coordinator. The device could attach to health monitoring devices to collect data, while the patient responds to questions about symptoms and behavior, which fed into a server, each coordinator monitoring about 125 patients.

The results show the efficacy of the program both in health and cost (Smith, 2011). In December 2008, the VA concluded that it had reduced hospital admissions by 19 percent and reduced days spent in hospitals or other facilities by 25 percent. The program costs $1600 per year, which is much cheaper than visiting nurses at $13,121 a year and nursing home care at $77,745 a year. The New England Healthcare Institute estimated use of this technology could save all US patients at risk of heart failure $6.4 billion annually through reduced hospital admissions.

So the advantages of mobile computing are evident. Patients receive increased efficiency of treatment from the healthcare provider (Mobile Security Work Group, 2011, p. 7-8). The technology gives real-time visibility into patients’ conditions and increased patient participation in their own healthcare. Additionally it allows for integration with better electronic medical records. Financially speaking, mobile computing reduces capital cost, maintenance costs and training costs of the devices used to monitor patients.

The downside to mobile computing new in healthcare raises several concerns regarding security and privacy (Mobile Security Work Group, 2011, p. 9). The potential for theft or loss of devices, growing risk of malware and the complexity of managing the devices are all problems that still leave vulnerabilities in managing the health care infrastructure. A healthcare organization must decide whether it permits organizational devices and non-organizational devices. If anorganization permits employees to use their own devices, an organization must decide how to determine who is accessing its network and what type of measures are taken to protect against information theft that is within compliance of HIPAA regulations.

This raises the issue of how a healthcare organization should budget its finances to maintain security measures and what type of security measures should be in place to protect everyone involved in the healthcare system (Mobile Security Work Group, p. 10-11). Many breaches reported to the Department of Health and Human Services have been thefts or loss of mobile computing devices from mobile health networks, exposing millions of patients’ protected health files. A health organization must make sure information is not compromised on a stolen device.Additionally an organization must decide what type of hardware and software they will support to allow access.

An example of how proper security and privacy measures have been implemented successfully was a case study with the Adventist health System (AHS) in 2009 (Mobile Security Work Group, p. 16-20). AHS wanted to implement needed security protocols to keep up with mobile technologies becoming more widespread. Devices were set up to a provider network where an app could be downloaded into a mobile device for access. Information theft was not a risk, because no info would be left on a stolen on a missing device, and network access itself is encrypted. Integrating different types of devices became a problem, so AHS deployed applications through a web service to allow all mobile device users equal access, while still maintaining security protocols.

While use of mobile computing in healthcare is still developing, compared to the 25 years it took to adopt desktop computers for healthcare use, there are measures available as a guide into the future to negate some of the disadvantages of mobile computing. A properly budgeted plan can ensure that health professionals and patients can access the same network securely without risk of information theft or privacy issues as long as proper steps are taken.

Social networks, in addition to mobile computing, allow patients to connect with others who have similar conditions and find the support the need to go through the healing process without feeling isolated. Laurie Edwards, a contributor to Forbes, wrote in 2013 of how she was diagnosed with primary ciliary dyskinesia, a rare lung disorder affecting only 200,000 people in the US (Edwards, 2013). She states she found relief on the internet through listservs, Yahoo groups, an advocacy foundation and Facebook from other people coping with the disease. While most of her basic medical knowledge came from her doctor, she learned how to deal with the emotional aspects of living with the disease from support networks that improved her overall quality of life.

The shift to mobile computing and patient-centered networks represents an empowering mode of communication to doctors and patients compared to the narrow dissemination of health facts from doctors alone(Edwards, 2013). Mobile computing has shown to streamline healthcare, while saving patients and healthcare organizations their lives, time and finances. Social networks also allow people with chronic disorders to connect with others so they do not feel isolated and receive emotional support improving the quality of their lives. Overall, the mobile computing movement and patient social networks represents a whole new approach to medicine everyone benefits from.

References

Edwards, L. (2013, June 3). The Power of Patient-to-Patient Groups. Forbes. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/06/03/the-power-of-patient-to-patient-groups/

Mobile Security Work Group. (2011, November 1). Security of Mobile Computing Devices in the Healthcare Environment. . Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://www.himss.org/files/HIMSSorg/content/files/PrivacySecurity/HIMSS_Mobility_Security_in_Healthcare_Final.pdf

Zimmerman, E. (2012, April 11). Vital Signs by Phone, Then, With a Click, a Doctor’s Appointment. The New York Times. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/business/smallbusiness/start-ups-use-technology-in-patient-doctor-interaction.html?_r=0

Smith, J. M. (2011, September 26). Wireless Health Care. – IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved May 27, 2014, from http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/wireless-health-care/0