Mobile Health Monitoring

Abstract

Chronic diseases impose heavy burden and costs on the health industry in many countries. Suitable health procedures, management, and prevention of disease by continuous monitoring through modern technologies can lead to a decrease in health costs and improve people empowerment. Applying remote medical diagnosis and monitoring system based on mobile health systems can help significantly reduce health care costs and correct performance management particularly in chronic disease management. In this chapter, mHealth opportunities in patient monitoring with the introduction of various systems specifically in chronic disease are expressed. Also mHealth challenges in patient monitoring in general and specific aspects are identified. Some of the general challenges include threats to confidentiality and privacy, and lack of information communication technology (ICT), and mobile infrastructure. In specific aspect, some difficulties include lack of system interoperability with electronic health records and other IT tools, decrease in face-to-face communication between doctor and patient, ill-functioning of system that leads to medical errors and negative effects on care outcomes, patients, and personnel, and factors related to the telecommunication industry include reliability and sudden interruptions of telecommunication networks.

Using mHealth to Improve Timeliness and Quality of Maternal and Newborn Health in the Primary Health Care System in Ethiopia

“…Real-time access to reliable and accurate information to deliver consistent and high-quality health care is in high demand. 3 Globally, the application of mHealth solutions in the public health sector has contributed to improvements in the delivery of quality health care. 4 , 5 mHealth applications are widely acknowledged as a way to transform how clients and health providers exchange health information, 4 and they present the opportunity to improve the quality and timeliness of maternal and child health services and strengthen referral linkages, particularly in under-resourced health systems.…”

mHealth Self-Monitoring Model for Medicine Adherence of Patients With Diabetes in Resource-Limited Countries: Structural Equation Modeling Approach

“…A hypothesis was drawn on the influence of culture on patients’ intentions to use mHealth for self-monitoring of their health; however, this hypothesis was rejected. The implications of the findings are that, despite the fact that culture has been found to be influential in some technology acceptance and use studies, its influence on self-management of one’s health may not be noteworthy [ 60 , 61 ]. Culture is, in most cases, considered a significant factor in addressing inequalities and inequities in health.…”