Unprecedented technological advancements characterize the 21st century. These developments have proved instrumental in the running of various sectors of the global economy. Notable among these sectors is healthcare. The sector has experienced many changes owing to technological innovations. For instance, m odern technologies such as the smartphone present a new frontier for individuals to access health care ( Ventola, 2014 ). Doctors and governments to use in the administration of healthcare services. In light of these facts, this literature review explores scholarly materials focussing on the various computer applications and technological innovations that have emerged in the last decade . Subsequently, it will focus on their application at the consumer, healthcare practitioner , and training levels. The paper shall also highlight the benefits of these applications as well as the ir potential future uses.
Talwa r et al. (2016) highligh ted the enhanced capabilities of the smartphone on various aspects of healthcare provision. The scholars look ed at the possible applications ranging from patient benefits available, healthcare implementation, medical education, and cross consultation among practitioners. The scholars established t hat smartphone use in the health sector is fast increasing due to various factors. First , smartphone capabilities and tools afford users the perfect platform for its integration into the health care sector. The characteristics in smartphones that lend themselves to these facts include high screen resolutions, high quality of construction which makes them durable, provision of internet accessibility , and finally, the benefit of allowing third-party applications to run on them (Ve ntola, 2014 ) . Th e latter is of particular importance as it provides for the creation of applications by others outside of the manufacturing company who have specialized in designing software tools for use by people. It was established that for applications to find full use, they have to be designed with a mindset of enhancing accessibility by the intended consumer s , quality of accessible content, and the usability. Smartphones have found use in the medical sector as part of electronic medical records, and as accessories in life-saving actions . For instance, they can monitor patient conditions such as glucose levels and the sharing of information such as radiology results. They also help in extension of services to remote areas where physical accessibility is an issue. In India, for instance , medical p rofessionals in India are focussed on creati ng a single standard for smartphone healthcare ( Talwa r et al., 2016 ) . In the process, it has been established that there is an intense amount of potential in the technology. However, there is a need to meld together practices into a good system for the creation of standardi z e d healthcare provision.
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The healthcare applications of various technologies are also explored by Mosa et al., 2012). Th e scholars summari zed 23 surveys on smartphone use by healthcare professionals in their provision of services. It was found that smartphone applications that dealt with healthcare specifically can be divided into seven categories. The se are; disease diagnosis applications, drug reference applications, medical calculator applications, literature search applications, clinical communication applications, Hospital Information Systems (HIS) , c lient applications, m edical training applications , and general healthcare applications. Applications for m edical and n ursing student s and applications for patients also served as general application categories. The scholars also cite that it is worthy to discuss application distribution in the healthcare sector as a whole, and based on criteria such as the operating system (OS) platforms that the applications supports . The categories considered include the Palm OS, Windows OS, Blackberry OS, Android OS , and the iOS. Undeniably, these applications ha ve found extensive penetration in the healthcare sector. This was due to the functionality and mobility that the smartphone afford s. T he applications themselves also serve in rapid response, error prevention, data management , and accessibility. Medical calculators, drug reference applications, medical textbooks , and references for disease diagnosis are the most used applications in the sector.
T he discussion into the usage of smartphone application s in the healthcare sector is currently rife. This has been explored by analyzing the patenting of the applications, and how those behind them are incentivized to create and maintain the associated systems ( Talwar et al., 2016 ) . A pplications dealing with records are built on a database, a processor , and a first computer-executable module that first obtains a subscription fee from a patient . This p rovides a link between the patient , healthcare provider , and access to records from the healthcare provider specific to the delivery of health care to the patient. A second subscription fee is then needed from the healthcare provider for him or her to u se the system. A second computer executable model registers the healthcare provider and patient based on the subscription fees. The third computer executable model gives the patient access to peer - to - peer consultation and on-demand communication to a healthcare provider. The fourth executable model provides the patient with access to educational records stored in the database. A fifth executable model then generates health awareness suggestions for the patient health reports and recommended prescriptions all based on the specific health care records of the patient. The sixth executable model t hen gives the individual access to their health records as well as coordination services between healthcare providers. O ne of the chief reasons for the need of such software as well as the support for developing it provided by the government through the patent process is that the software are a crucial strategy for cutting the cost of healthcare provision. This is mainly due to easy record keeping , access , and the coordination of healthcare services.
Training is a core component of the healthcare sector. McNi e l & McArthur (2016) explored the feasibility of using applications in this regard. Specifically, the scholars sought to find a proper healthcare application on the market. Subsequently, they divided nursing students into small groups, told them to pick applications and then proceeded to test the selected applications using the Currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose ( CRAAP ) criteria . This was aimed at establishing whether the selected applications were any good. The CRAAP criteria analyses applications by currency (date of development and when it was last update), relevance (appropriateness of information to target audience), authority (who developed or sponsored the app), accuracy (source of information) and purpose (is the information provided objective). The scholars established that many applications were inaccurate but had a lot of potential .
Ventola (2014) explored mobile applications that were specifically targeted at healthcare professionals. The scholar found that mobile apps found use in hospitals in various capacities. These included information and time management, record access and maintenance, communication and consulting, research and review, drug references, news acquisition, clinical decision making, patient monitoring , and medical education and training. S pecifically, it was established that applications are used in reducing costs, especially in patient navigation. P atient navigators help individuals navigate th e dynamic healthcare system by offering insights into how the healthcare system functions ( Natale ‐ Pereira et al., 2011) . They also give directions on how to make use of the system to ensure that the most benefits are derived out of the system. They are especially useful in the hospital for this and other purposes. Patient navigators also assist with the decisions that involve healthcare, such as helping families understand their loved one's health situations and what actions are available to them. Further, patient navigators streamline the healthcare process by acting as a go-between for clinicians and the patients.
Often , doctors and nurses get so engrossed in the health of the patient that they over look the care aspect. W hen family members notice this, they are usually at loss on who to express those concerns to. T his frustration can translate to anger on the part of the patient’s loved ones. In such situations, t he patient navigator helps in express ing the concerns of the family to the doctors on behalf of the family . It also helps in the provi sion of mediation services in a bid to ensure calm and productive relations between the caregivers and clinicians. Patient navigators also ensure that the patient and their families remain in formed on the progress of their loved ones ( Natale ‐ Pereira et al., 2011) . In many cases, patient care involve s the use of numerous specialists at the same time. This could include such individuals as a radiologist, an oncologist, nurses , and a general doctor for cases such as cancer. Due to the high number of individuals that a patient is in contact with , the amount of information that they receive could become overwhelming . This necessitat es a caregiver to give more personali z ed care and information.
Providers of patient navigator s ought to be paid for their services by a conglomerate of government funding, pharmaceutical companies, philanthropists , and other organizations willing to foot the bill. In this case, c onflict of interest is likely to arise. The navigator-patient relationship gives the patient navigator authority because the patient trusts in the information and suggestions that the patient navigator makes ( Natale ‐ Pereira et al., 2011) . This implies that if the patient navigator is being funded by a pharmaceutical company or a specific insurance provider, the entity is likely to mak e s uggestions for the individual patient to use particular products, irrespective of whether they are objectively the best market options. This points towards the ethical issue s associated with the use of patient navigators . This calls for the establishment of a body to monitor and govern those specific interactions. The second problem is in maintaining a particular standard of care. In this regard, there is no specific body to oversee the training of patient navigators. This issue is especially dangerous considering the ethical responsibilities of patient navigators as well as the importance of the advice that they give, seeing that it has to do with the health of individuals. This challenge can only be solved by creating an official body to handle these challenges (Foster, 2010). Boulos et al . (2011) found that despite the problems associated with smartphones such as limited storage and screen size compared to computers, adoption of the cloud could help in ensuring that these challenges are circumvented. Other concerns that come with technological advancements in the healthcare sector include information safety and privacy , ownership of data , and how much control individuals can have over the data that they utilize.
The use of smartphones and other Information Communication and Technology ( ICT ) options in healthcare has been discussed by Olok et al. (2015) and Furusa & Coleman (2018). Olok et al. (2015) used a cross-sectional study of 68 doctors in three government hospitals in Northern Uganda. The scholars found that the younger doctors aged between 21 and 40 used e - health facilities more often than their older counterparts. However, it was the older doctors above the age of 50 who had more access to ICT tools as compared to their younger counterparts. While the penetration and use of ICT facilities in Uganda is not ideal, there is hope that it will get better as there are positive attitudes among health practitioners towards the system. Furusa & Coleman (2018) , on the other hand, found various challenges in the mainstreaming of ICT s into the healthcare system with the main hinderance being access to infrastructure such as computers and the Internet. Another hindrance is the lack of well personnel trained. Other external factors include lack of funding from the relevant government ministries and lack of a clear health policy .
Overall, t echnological innovations, especially in the smartphone application front, are opening up a whole new possibility for healthcare delivery systems worldwide . T he se innovations offer support to existing healthcare infrastructure and help alleviate the cost of various aspects of healthcare delivery . This is extremely beneficial to a nation’s healthcare system. However, in that in some regions, there is a need of more support in integrati ng such systems into specific nation s’ healthcare architecture . This would a llow individuals to receive the full benefit of these innovations.
References
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Foster, R. S. (2010). Estimated Financial Effects of the 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,'as Amended . DIANE Publishing.
Furusa, S. S., & Coleman, A. (2018). Factors influencing e-health implementation by medical doctors in public hospitals in Zimbabwe. SA Journal of Information Management , 20 (1), 9.
McNiel, P., & McArthur, E. C. (2016). Evaluating health mobile apps: Information literacy in undergraduate and graduate nursing courses. Journal of Nursing Education , 55 (8), 480-480.
Mosa, A. S. M., Yoo, I., & Sheets, L. (2012). A systematic review of healthcare applications for smartphones. BMC medical informatics and decision making , 12 (1), 67.
Natale ‐ Pereira, A., Enard, K. R., Nevarez, L., & Jones, L. A. (2011). The role of patient navigators in eliminating health disparities. Cancer , 117 (S15), 3541-3550.
Olok, G. T., Yagos, W. O., & Ovuga, E. (2015). Knowledge and attitudes of doctors towards e-health use in healthcare delivery in government and private hospitals in Northern Uganda: a cross-sectional study. BMC medical informatics and decision making , 15 (1), 87.
Talwar, Y. K., Karthikeyan, S., Bindra, N., & Medhi, B. (2016). Smartphone’-A User-friendly Device to Deliver Affordable Healthcare-A Practical Paradigm. J Health Med Informat , 7 (232), 2.
Ventola, C. L. (2014). Mobile devices and apps for health care professionals: uses and benefits. Pharmacy and Therapeutics , 39 (5), 356.
