The healthcare industry has a long history of taking advantage of mobile technology, from early adoption of Palm Pilots for e-prescribing to mobile computers on wheels. However, enterprise mobility is quickly transforming the industry even further with the ability to use in-home medical devices for monitoring patient data and transmitting it to practitioners.
And these devices do not have to conform to our current ideas about computing. For example, smart medication bottles now include sensors in the bottle cap that trigger a wireless notification that a patient has taken medication. And then they can request a prescription refill after patients take a certain amount of the medication or notify the physician if the patient fails to take the prescription.
But it doesn’t stop there. Check out the latest ways enterprise mobility is forever changing the healthcare industry – from manufacturers and pharma reps to physicians and patients.
6 ways enterprise mobility is supporting quality of care
1. Medical device manufacturers
Mobile solutions have the potential to boost the overall productivity of field service organizations. Let’s consider a team of medical equipment technicians who install and maintain devices in clinics. Mobile applications can intelligently guide them through diagnosis, calibration, and repair to help them respond faster and work better. This can really measurably improve service.
And by having real-time information on what’s happening in the field, managers can analyze and plan for timely service and repairs; improve workforce productivity; and reduce delays, overtime, and service costs.
2. Biopharma companies
These organizations must ensure high manufacturing and supply standards to remain competitive. By empowering drivers and maintenance teams with mobile apps to inspect, maintain, and repair the company’s plants and fleets, they can secure high levels of availability and performance.
Mobile apps do not just navigate the worker seamlessly through the job at hand, but they also automatically track progress, status, and location in real time. This gives managers a complete view of the general state of the fleet – improving plant and fleet maintenance and increasing vehicle performance.
3. Quality control and quality assurance
Mobile apps can help QA personnel record results and make lot-disposition decisions. Safety inspectors on the shop floor can log testing scores and ratings; establish and monitor corrective action dates and due dates; or check and update status of incidents. They can even check the status of incidents and document site-safety comments on the go or assign infractions to the responsible parties on the site.
4. Physicians
Doctors, nurses, and physician assistants can access real-time information about a patient’s test results on a mobile device. They can also submit any changes to the patient’s prescription electronically to the pharmacy. The pharmacy then notifies the patient of the prescription change and issues and delivers the revised prescription to the patient’s door.
An even more intelligent innovation in mobile apps would be one that compresses the value chain even further by considering the patient’s results and formulating a diagnosis and treatment plan for the physician’s approval. But, we may have to wait a little while for that.
5. Pharmaceutical reps
Mobile technology can help improve the productivity of sales visit and even shorten the supply-and-demand cycle. For example, reps can rely on a mobile app to retrieve relevant account information while they are at the client clinic. This enables them to verify the physician’s availability and account status, as well as the nurse’s name to personalize the visit. They can also develop a sales strategy to execute a productive visit – and maybe even a sale on that same day. At the end of the visit, the rep can process new orders and provide the physician with the necessary information about new drugs and offerings, submit new orders, and even follow up on the supply process.
6. Patients
Suppose you’re setting up a new medical device to perform an overnight dialysis treatment. But all of a sudden, the machine displays a nonstandard error message. What now?
By using contacting the automated medical equipment service center and entering the error code on the display, the nearest on-call service nurse or technician is contacted immediately through a mobile device. The technician then calls the patient and attempts to resolve the error remotely. If the call is unsuccessful, a technician can be sent to the patient’s home to repair the equipment malfunction and allow the patient can proceed with the prescribed treatment.
Enterprise mobility is more than just information on a smartphone
As you can see, enterprise mobility is giving healthcare organizations more than just the ability to transmit information on demand. By touching every facet of the value chain, it’s promoting real-time interactivity, timely and accurate decision making, and streamlined and efficient service.
What do you think? Have you experienced – or dreamed of – any other ways enterprise mobility can play a role in delivering quality care to you and your loved ones?