Are you a fan of mobile apps? Do you
feel the need to have the latest gadget? Admittedly, I do not and I
will try to bring some points out that may help your thinking about
your decisions.
I am not the only one interested in
this. Dr. Leslie Kernisan who blogs here and here writes about
devices and apps and how most are not helpful. The blog that started
my thinking is this one by Jane Sarasohn Kahn on Center for Advancing Health. She attended the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Her
main emphasis is on the fashion and function of the apps and wearable
devices. This is not what I am looking for and I am more interested in
function and not fashion.
I would like to add another doctor that
blogs about mobile health apps and that would be Dr. David Lee Scher
who blogs here. His blogs are on my reading list and often have some
points in common with Dr. Kernisan. Why am I pointing out the
different blogs? I think anyone interested in mobile health apps
needs to have sources to help them make decisions.
The following are a few of the things I
look for in mobile health devices and mobile health apps:
#1. Interoperability Presently
there are very few that operate with another device or app. This is
the biggest weakness of devices and apps. Most companies are
financially competitive and will not share protocols or allow other
devices or apps to capture data from their devices.
This stops me from purchasing devices
or apps. I make enough entry mistakes with numbers that I refuse to
own a device or app that does not operate with another. Some can
call it being lazy, but with the errors I can make, I would not want
this error to go to a doctor.
Yes, I must record the blood glucose
readings from my meter and enter the data on paper, but I use extra
care. Now that I have the program for pulling the data from the
meter to my computer, that is no longer a concern.
#2. Is the device or app immune to
being hacked? After learning about the activities of NSA, what
happened to customers of Target, and other retailers, this is a
concern for me. I don't need my data from mobile health devices and
apps subject to other people's use. It is bad enough that the
computer systems of doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies are
hacked on a continuous basis.
#3. Is the design clunky and
difficult to use? With the sleek and usable designs in other
devices, even if you don't care about fashion, everyday use must be
satisfied and if the device or app does not allow for efficient use,
it will end up on a shelf or in a drawer not being used.
#4. Does the device or app help
solve a problem or provide a solution? Technologies do not
operate in a vacuum. Most mobile health technologies involve
education and some knowledge. Make a device or app too complicated
for use and it won't be used.
#5. Will insurance provide
assistance with the cost of the device or app? I don't know what
the new policies obtained for 2014 and later will cover, but before
the start of 2014, some insurance companies were reimbursing partial
costs of some devices, especially those the doctors were prescribing
even if they were available without prescription.
The technologies of today, may be the
microchips of the future. I can believe this as these would require microchip
readers that could retrieve the data when held in close proximity to
the microchip. Then we would need to worry about who had readers for
the microchip. Technology provides all sorts of theories for concern
and some for amusement.
Technology may be the future and could
help in the path to better health if utilized properly and the
devices and apps start working together for better utilization.
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