Innovation in technology and development does matter as applying new ideas to unrelenting problem can provide different alternatives. There has been no invention which provided more distinct opportunity in the innovation for development that mobile phones. These devices have traditionally provided voice and easy data transfer methods to connect to people from over the world. Therefore with cheaper rates and improving capabilities the mobile phone technology is a domain which can provide powerful opportunities for great innovations. Moreover as it s subjected to lower education and financial barriers it still offers great opportunities in learning. These phones have also reached remote populations which offer great communication methods. Moreover some recent researches have also indicated great use of mobile phones in the health care industry which cater the medical needs of rural populations.
The mobile health services being used today have several diverse aspects. These include the likelihood for almost two way information exchange and real time communication. Moreover the access capabilities in mobile health can effectively cross the distance barrier between the doctor and patient. The other aspect is the expansion of health sector to involve private and public sector which allows new roles to appear and even nontraditional sectors like mobile networks operators to get involved in the innovative way to promote and develop health care.
Today, mobile health or mHealth is a coined term which is largely defined as health care practice which is supported through mobile devices. Mobile health practices basically include public health, self monitoring support and clinical medication through mobile phones or through personal digital assistants. However currently the active mobile health applications also use PDAs in collecting health data of the community and they use mobile phones to deliver health care data to patients, practitioners, nonpatients for real time monitoring.
Apart form this, with the wider mobile facilitated development program the mobile technology is also recognized as an excellent resource for social and economic development. The growing number of pilot projects has also been testing mobile health devices throughout the world. However a scalable and strategic approach to mobile health practices could also likely reap greater social and financial rewards. Moreover in the context of the development opportunities and because anyone can have a mobile phone regardless of their social or financial state it has become even more easier to provide mobile health services in the most rural places across the world.
The wireless technology has been a part of medical practices for a long time. However the recent introduction of a more classy wireless mobile phones and the growth in wireless broadband networks has actually given a boost to the new wireless mobile health services. The mobile health of mHealth as it is commonly called comes with a wide range of services and applications which enable medical professionals to easily monitor data of patients and even help their patients manage their own conditions or adhere to a suitable treatment routine. Some new applications in the service would also empower the patients by adding in early recognition and even allow home based diagnostic tests.
The mobile health raises policy issues in the domain of the latest 2 federal agencies which are the Food and Drug administration and the federal communications commission. The federal communications commission has authority over the use of electromagnetic spectrum being used by Wi-Fi routers, cell phones and other similar devices. Moreover they also have authority over the range being used by devices which hare attached to or have been implanted in patients that measure important signs or other particular medical information which are being transmitted through wireless connections to another location. However the food and drug administration has authority over the medical devices as it is important to approve the medical device such as the cell phone before they can be passed on to the patients or people.
However the FCC is now considering whether to make more range of devices available for a specific type of medical practice. The FDA on the other hand has already determined that some mobile health applications of software should be loaded on the cell phones that constitutes of medical device and they are not started to debate on the question whether or not the mobile phone itself be made a new medical device. This will also need regulations from the mobile health agency that runs these devices and applications.
Mobile phones are today transformed from forbidden devices to even important tools for healthcare and medications. The healthcare enterprises should actually develop a clear plan for the wireless data exchange to be more secure and helpful. There are thousands of innovative applications which are carried out for health care use and an increasing number are being added each day. Mobile health services are particularly here to stay as long as there are mobile phones which can also improve with the advancement in technology.