The number of users using healthcare applications and self-monitoring technologies is increasing daily. During the Covid pandemic, the most relevant was the use of medical applications that allow you to remotely make an appointment with a specialist and get medical advice. Thanks to the active use of healthcare applications, it became possible to examine remotely and issue prescriptions and conclusions.

Helpful information

There are over 350,000 health apps in the US, most allowing self-administration. Many medical applications enable patients to control chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease. You shouldn’t rely entirely on app metrics, but it can help prevent unexpected symptoms and their consequences.

The quality of the healthcare application is the main parameter that must always be in perfect condition. You cannot trust applications that have not been adequately and fully taking healthcare software testing in different stress conditions.

Increasing the use of medical applications

Through the use of applications for the health sector, the possibilities of access to the provided medical services are increasing, thereby removing barriers to this. Telemedicine technologies enable many consumers to use medical services without visiting a medical facility. Therefore, such technologies allow for overcoming various obstacles that impede medical care: social, economic, territorial, and physical.

With the advent of peripheral electronic devices (cuffs, oximeters, glucometers, blood pressure monitors, and many others), it became possible for patients to monitor and record various essential health indicators with their subsequent transfer to the attending physician for diagnosing the results.

Approximately more than 80% of US residents over the age of 50 use smartphones and this figure is expected to increase significantly. Older Americans are slowly becoming accustomed to using healthcare apps that provide a comfortable and responsive healthcare experience. Thus, they can independently monitor various indicators of chronic diseases around the clock from any location.

Based on studies, people over 50 systematically use the medical application to:

• monitor activity, blood sugar levels, track pressure indicators, control the time of taking medications;
• have a general idea of the state of their health;
• send the information you receive to your healthcare providers.

Medical institutions also have various benefits from using healthcare applications. Telehealth/mHealth electronic technology provides an opportunity to solve the problem of a significant shortage of medical personnel and improve the efficiency of medical care through the automated collection of information. Medical applications provide the healthcare industry with quick access to data from their patients, offering advice and tangible assistance in the treatment process. Healthcare applications enable efficient patient care.

An example of using the M-Health medical application for hypertension

Medical applications have proven necessary and show great promise for self-management of blood pressure in hypertension, especially uncontrolled hypertension. Studies have shown that unchecked hypertension occurs without a prescribed treatment regimen.

Most patients forget to take the prescribed medications by the attending physician on time or even ignore their use. Violation of the doctor’s instructions leads to severe consequences. Therefore, monitoring hypertension rates using healthcare apps is extremely important and convenient.

Tracking the health status of a patient with hypertension online increases the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment. It allows the attending physician to respond promptly in critical situations, thus providing two-way operational communication between both parties.

Interactive applications for medicine support the exchange of information and provide video communication, allowing you to solve many problems of hypertensive patients:

• remind you to take medications;
• control blood pressure;
• encourage patients to monitor their health;
• increase the activity of the user audience;
• receive recommendations and notifications.

After the introduction of healthcare applications responsible for hypertension diseases, the following advantages appeared:

• increased efficiency of communication links between the patient and the medical institution providing services;
• significantly reduced the statistics of secondary hospitalization, allowing the patient to recover at home successfully;
• more patients began to comply with the prescribed treatment regimen strictly;
• the rate of information content for medical personnel has increased, ensuring the promptness of intervention if necessary.

The more patients with hypertension who use medical applications that track blood pressure, the less critical situations will arise in their health status.

Conclusion

Statistics show that US residents are aging – more than 80% of people over 65 have at least one chronic disease. Consequently, a considerable number of people have long-term health problems. Electronic advances in healthcare allow older people to provide various medical services in a remote format promptly, regardless of the patient’s location. The comfort of using medical applications contributes to an increase in the user audience using these technologies, allowing you to control and improve your health.