Recently, there has been a reported surge in smartphone ownership, in the UK 51% of the population owning a smartphone[1] [2], while in the US data show that about 95 million Americans used their mobile phones either as healthcare tools or to find health information. A recent research found that there are approximately 43,000 medical applications available online only in the iTunes store, and over 8,000 in the Google Play store, numbers that are growing by 150 percent per year [3]. Statistics have demonstrated that on average, users check their smartphones every 6.5 minutes and each person has approximately 41 applications (apps) on the phone [4]. The industry experts predict an increase by 25% a year for mobile health apps, estimating that almost 500 million patients and healthcare providers will use a mobile health app within the next two years [5]. Apps can record dietary information, identify pills, perform medical calculations, keep track of physical activity, screen for diseases, manage doctor’s appointments, and transmit recorded data to the healthcare provider, help quitting smoking or substance abuse, among many other functions. There is a smartphone app for nearly everything and everyone and a recent trend in convergence between devices and apps used by clinicians and those used by patients. A study on nearly 43,700 purported health or medical apps available on Apple's iTunes app store, found that only 54% of them were “genuine” healthcare apps, and 69% of those were targeting patients while the rest of 31% were built for use by clinicians [6]. Smartphones have become an “indispensible” source of healthcare information for approximately 38% of surveyed users, which are considering that their devices are “essential” for ...
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... paper diary: pilot randomized controlled trial.,” J. Med. Internet Res., vol. 15, no. 4, p. e32, Jan. 2013.
[21] B. A. Yon, R. K. Johnson, J. Harvey-Berino, B. C. Gold, and A. B. Howard, “Personal digital assistants are comparable to traditional diaries for dietary self-monitoring during a weight loss program.,” J. Behav. Med., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 165–75, Apr. 2007.
[22] M. S. Marcolino, J. X. Maia, M. B. M. Alkmim, E. Boersma, and A. L. Ribeiro, “Telemedicine Application in the Care of Diabetes Patients: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” PLoS One, vol. 8, no. 11, p. e79246, Nov. 2013.
[23] D. A. Renjilian, M. G. Perri, A. M. Nezu, W. F. McKelvey, R. L. Shermer, and S. D. Anton, “Individual versus group therapy for obesity: Effects of matching participants to their treatment preferences.,” J. Consult. Clin. Psychol., vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 717–21, Aug. 2001.
This systematic review conducted by Takeda A, Taylor SJC, Taylor RS, Khan F, Krum H, Underwood M, (2012) sourced twenty-five trials, and the overall number of people of the collective trials included was 5,942. Interventions were classified and assessed using the following headings.-
[20]Charles BL. (2000) Telemedicine can lower costs and improve access. Healthcare Financial Management. 54(4): 66.
Zimmerman, L., & Barnason, S. (2006). Use of a telehealth device to deliver a symptom management intervention to cardiac surgical patients. Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 22(1), 32-37.
Reimbursement policies prevent the total integration of telemedicine into health care practice (Prinz, 2008). Today, there is no overall telemedicine reimbursement policy in the federal health care system (HRSA, 2011 & OAT, 2003). As a result, reimbursement for telecare has been limited and somewhat haphazard. It’s up to each state to specify what telemedicine services, if any, are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement (HRSA, 2011 & OAT, 2003).
Advances in technology have influences our society at home, work and in our health care. It all started with online banking, atm cards, and availability of children’s grades online, and buying tickets for social outings. There was nothing electronic about going the doctor’s office. Health care cost has been rising and medical errors resulting in loss of life cried for change. As technologies advanced, the process to reduce medical errors and protect important health care information was evolving. In January 2004, President Bush announced in the State of the Union address the plan to launch an electronic health record (EHR) within the next ten years (American Healthtech, 2012).
Telemedicine is a new comer to the field of medicine and it is the treatment of patients by means of telecommunications technology. Telemedicine is carried out in a variety of ways whether it is by smart phone, wireless tools or other forms of telecommunications. Examples of telemedicine include: 1) transmission of medical images 2) care services at the home of the patient 3) Diagnosis at distance 4) education and training of patients. The diversity of practices in what is known as telemedicine raises many questions and one of those questions, which is extremely important, relate to the safety of the practice and the risks involved.
Palmas, W., Shea, S., Starren, J., Teresi, J. A., Ganz, M. L., Burton, T. M., et al. (2010). Medicare payments, health care service use, and telemedicine implementation costs in a randomized trial comparing telemedicine case management with usual care in medically underserved participants with diabetes mellitus (IDEATel). Journal of the American Informatics Association, 17, 196-202.
The everyday health and fitness individual has the availability to track running, walking, sleeping, daily movement, and lets you set goals and challenge previous records. This group of individuals accounts for 128 million possible sales and are going to be in the best shape of their lives to take advantage of the fitness capabilities the Apple Watch has to offer. These active tech savvy students or business individuals can dress the watch up or down, and still keep track of fitness goals. The available apps for the Watch will help individuals keep notes, update events in personal calendars, check stocks, pay with Apple Pay, send and receive emails, and improve efficiency of tasks throughout the day while working out (Apple: The Watch Reimagined,
O'Brien, D. (2009). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In R. Mullner (Ed.), Encyclopedia of health services research. (pp. 1017-1021). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: http://dx.doi.org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.4135/9781412971942
Turner, B. J., Newschaffer, C. J., Zhang, D., Fanning, T., & Hauck, W. W. (1999). Translating clinical trial results into practice. Annals of Internal Medicine, 130(12), 979-986.
Paul J., Seib R., Prescott T. The internet and clinical trials: background, online resources, examples and issues. J Med Internet Res. 2005; 7(1):e5
We are living in electrifying times. Mobile health (mHealth) technology is changing every facet of the way we live. Possibly no area is more imperative or more reflective than the improvements we are observing in healthcare (Fox & Duggan, 2012). In current years, there has been an increase of wearable devices, social media, smartphone apps, and telehealth, and each has immense promise for the future of organized health care (Fox & Duggan, 2012). With the capacity to assemble and interpret patient-made data, these mHealth tools keep the assurance of changing the way health care is provided, proposing patients their own customized medical guidance (Manojlovich et al., 2015). Health care availability, affordability, and quality are
In recent decades, overweight population in US has risen to unprecedented levels. According to 2010 census by Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 69.2% of adults age 20 and above are considered overweight or obese. This is two thirds of the population (CDC). Obesity is often linked to overconsumption. Many studies conclude that high rates of obesity in the modern society result from the behavioral model created by the food industry of eating cheapest, but most profitable foods. These foods are high in calorie count and most often are unhealthy, and, thus, are major contributors to the rising levels of overweight population (CDC). The initial management of overweight and obesity is lifestyle intervention, which is a combination of diet, exercise, and behavioral modification. The major goal of behavioral modification is to help patients make long-term changes in their eating habits by monitoring and modifying their food intake (amount and quality), as well as controlling the stimuli in the environment that trigger such eating behaviors (Bray).
Raise your hand if you’re one of 44% of Americans that sleep next to their phones at every night. It’s true, so many of us are dependent on our mobile devices, that psychologists are now calling it the “Invisible Addiction”! Since its invention critics have debated every inch of the cell phone. From its usefulness and size, to its effects on health after prolonged usage. The conversation has since shifted. The cell phone market today is flooded with a plethora devices to choose from, sporting top of the line materials and industry leading software, but this just scratches the surface. With over 968 million worldwide smartphone sales in 2013, consumers are feeding into the latest technology that the market has to offer. Though they may become
The world today is a result of centuries of evolution; one of the major adaptations is technology, specifically the invention of the smartphone. The smartphone is a cellular phone that has the capabilities of performing similar functions to that of a computer (Oxford Dictionaries’ online dictionary, n.d.). The smartphone is owned by youth for the most part; however, adults and seniors are also turning toward using this device. This in turn demonstrates the popularity of this marvelous device, and is the reason why it is constantly monitored by its users. The continuous evolving of the populations' wants and needs such as communication, searching of information, entertainment and recording, makes owning a smartphone essential, and beneficial as it is portable, reliable and efficient.