It is estimated that 65.7 million Americans serve as unpaid caregivers for parents, children, and other loved ones and about 78 percent of these family caregivers say they could use more information, this is according to a 2009 study by the National Alliance of Caregiving. Providing care for a loved one with deteriorating health is a daunting task for anyone, but even more so for those who must balance this care with an established career, raising a family, or both. Emerging technologies are making it possible to deliver healthcare resources to the most convenient place possible, your mobile device.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that across the three main mobile-platforms (Apple iPhone, Google Android, and RIM Blackberry), there are now over 8,700 health-related applications. The abundance of mobile-health applications is very promising news for the future of healthcare, but Dr. Joseph Kim, a physician and founder of MedicalSmartphones.com cautions that “anyone can develop an app and it’s not [necessarily] based on U.S. standards or those of the FDA or any real governing regulatory body.” He suggests seeking the advice of a physician or health provider and also reading app reviews on the websites of reputable medical facilities.
Here are some mobile healthcare applications to consider:
- Tell My Geo (Android, $9.95/month). A personal health-record app that allows healthcare providers, including physicians and emergency responders, to access a person’s medical history via their smartphone. The application also uses a GPS function that allows caregivers to track a lost loved one.
- Personal Caregiver (iPhone, Free). This application allows caregivers to track and schedule medications for up to three people. A premium version is also available (for a one-time fee of $9.99) that allows app users to receive more detailed medication information and updates of FDA recall alerts.
- Pain Care (iPhone/Android/coming soon to Blackberry, Free). This mobile app integrates a visual pain scale into an electronic health journal. A patient indicates pain levels by touching smiling or frowning faces and the app combines this information with their location, duration, characteristics, mood and triggers. This data can also be instantly shared with a physician who can immediately alter medications and treatments. Pain Care won the Project HealthDesign award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Healthcare Foundation.
- iBiomed (iPhone, Free). This is an app developed by a physician from South Carolina and his wife, to help them juggle the overwhelming amount of information and tasks involved in caring for their special-needs children. The features include a mobile treatment log for prescriptions, supplements, therapies, diets, allergies and tests; portable medical record; treatment and prescription refill reminders; customizable graphs; a time-stamped journal which allows searches for such items as foods, behaviors, side effects and reactions; and the mobile application also allows users to ask advice and share stories with other caregivers via an online forum.
- Neurology: Alzheimer ’s disease: An Overview (iPhone, $19.99). This mobile application provides “medical animation” of Alzheimer’s disease and how it affects the brain, from Focus Media. Each subject is covered in a video and notes page. The app outlines different types of dementia, methods of diagnosis, and possible treatment options. Additionally, the app includes a transcript for each video that has links to medical terms and other useful information.
- Alzheimer’s Apps (iPhone, $0.99). This application identifies other apps, within Apple’s app store, that are focused on improving quality of life for those with memory-impairing conditions and their caregivers. Alzheimer’s Apps finds other applications meant to calm, engage, and lift the spirits. This app represents a growing segment of mobile applications that allow caregivers to easily interact and provide enjoyable activities for those they care for.
