Mobile healthcare informatics.

Abstract

Advances in wireless technology give pace to the rapid development of mobile applications. The coming mobile revolution will bring dramatic and fundamental changes to our daily life. It will influence the way we live, the way we do things, and the way we take care of our health. For the healthcare industry, mobile applications provide a new frontier in offering better care and services to patients, and a more flexible and mobile way of communicating with suppliers and patients. Mobile applications will provide important real time data for patients, physicians, insurers, and suppliers. In addition, it will revolutionalize the way information is managed in the healthcare industry and redefine the doctor - patient communication. This paper discusses different aspects of mobile healthcare. Specifically, it presents mobile applications in healthcare, and discusses possible challenges facing the development of mobile applications. Obstacles in developing mobile healthcare applications include mobile device limitations, wireless networking problems, infrastructure constraints, security concerns, and user distrust. Research issues in resolving or alleviating these problems are also discussed in the paper.