Handheld Devices in Health Care Delivery

Essay by nicmon41College, UndergraduateA-, March 2013

download word file, 8 pages 0.0

How the use of handheld electronic devices has created new approaches to health care delivery?

In the last few years' handheld devices such as the blackberry, iPad and iPhone have become extremely popular all around the world. In July 2011, 82.2 million people owned a Smartphone, which was up 54% from the previous year (Nickels 611). Companies and people alike have scrambled to invent and purchase the newest versions of these devices. With the introduction of applications or "Apps"; which are software made specifically for access on a handheld platform and are allowing people to access information nearly instantly- people are finding more and more ways to use these apps in their everyday lives to make tasks easier. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on the use of these devices and their attributed apps in the healthcare field. Due to the worlds quickly aging population these devices have become more popular than ever as quick information access is in high demand to deal with a surge of new patients (Prasad 409).

Health care workers are now using hand held devices not only to access medical information but also to interact with their patients in new ways.

According to a statistical study done by Kalorama Information, the total market for handheld devices in healthcare reached $11 billion dollars globally in 2011, reflecting a 10% growth since 2007 (26). Researchers such as, Abdul Hafeez-Baig have explained that there are benefits of using technology in the health sector (229) as long as there are proper policies and training set in place (237). One of these benefits is easier access to information, specific to the needs of individuals, when and where they need it most (Prasad 409). Other researchers have found that the use of handheld devices in healthcare has...