Mobile Phone And Its Effects On Health Care And Professional, Ethical And Legal Concept

The use of mobile technology in the healthcare industry has exploded in the last ten years. Mobile health or mHealth, provides an entire new aspect of the relationship between patients and their doctors and other medical providers. Mobile devices place important and critical information into a medical professional’s hands in real-time. Doctors can monitor a patient’s condition more frequently, allowing them to make better and more informed decisions and diagnoses.

Mhealth has reached the poorest of communities (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). More than 9 million patients email their physician in 2009 (Digital Health Care, 2010), because patients’ busy lifestyles do not allow time for an office visit for non-emergent health conditions. . In recent years, the expansion of mobile health (mhealth) technologies, including health text messaging, mobile phone applications, remote monitoring, and portable sensors, have changed the way health care is being delivered in the U.S. and globally (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.). Patients like the convenience of communicating with his or her physician through advanced technology.

Communication has been permanently changed by social media. A wide conceptual definition of social media, as cited in Ressler & Glazer (2010), is “The online and mobile accessible services that enable individuals to connect, collaborate, and share with others in real time.” Social media has an obvious influence on informal communication style and represents both possibility and liability for healthcare institutions. As cited in Bernhardt, Alber, & Gold (2014), “Social media provide healthcare professionals with tools to share information, to debate health care policy and practice issues, to promote health behaviors, to engage with the public, and to educate and interact with patients, caregivers, students, and colleagues.” It also presents challenges, including risks to information accuracy, organizational reputation, and individual privacy. Social media can be a very helpful in communicating among nurses and other healthcare providers while creating professional connections, and sharing experiences, but guidelines for appropriate use by healthcare providers are essential. Whether or not certain healthcare organization decides to use social media as a communications tool - social media policy still need to be implemented. Policies help establish an organization 's rules and expectations around social media.

Unfortunately, along with the good must come the bad. For every positive aspect of smartphones and social media in healthcare related settings, there is an equally negative aspect. One pitfall of smartphones in healthcare is directly related to one of the positive aspects of smartphones: the availability of medical

Social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the use of smartphones have quickly integrated themselves into our everyday lifestyle. With the constant advancement of technology, it is no surprise that this trend has affected not only the personal lives of user 's but also their work environment as well. It is important that future healthcare workers understand the many rewards and challenges technology can bring to the workplace.

Social media has taken over the way that we interact with one another. It is leading the way in which we communicate with family, friends, coworkers and strangers. It is also the way we keep up with our favorite celebrities and gossip. Social media and the use of smartphones are becoming more prevalent in business and the healthcare field as well. According to Pew Research Center, “62% of smartphone owners have used their phone in the past year to look up information about a health condition” (April, 2015). Technology, just like all things come with flaws

In the present culture of the United States, social media has had a major impact in American society. It has a profound influence and intertwined itself in almost every aspect of the average American’s life. It ranges from providing updates of location of a person(s), events, and sharing personal moments. Even different industries are utilizing social media as a platform for communication, information, and sales mediums. One industry, the health care field has seen a rise in the utilization of social media. For instance, an emerging population of physicians are using social media apps such as Snap Chat, Facebook, and YouTube to educate, display surgical, and medical procedures while being performed. In contrast, as there are positive aspects of utilizing social media, a negative trait of social media is invading and exposing individual’s privacy. As of recent, a New York licensed nurse had to surrender her nursing license and sentenced to 3 years of probation for “moral unfitness in the practice (Bowerman, 2016).” She took photos with her phone of two unconscious male patient’s genitalia and shared them with coworkers. This has become an increasing issue and as the utilization of social media in healthcare is increasing, many ethical issues are developing. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed for the adoption of a national standard for electronic health care transactions and code sets, unique health identifiers,

The hospital should consider the use of more technological options when making health services more accessible to its patients. Mobile Health (mHealth) is a good example of using technology in the delivery of healthcare (Henriquez-Camacho, Losa, Miranda, & Cheyne, 2014). mHealth uses mobile devices to convey health-related messages and information (Henriquez-Camacho et al., 2014). A variety of users include health professionals, patients, and emergency and disaster responders. Health-related messages and information may include disease history, health education, and management of medications (Henriquez-Camacho et al., 2014). mHealth benefits have been recorded through the use of a low to moderate quality evidence meta-analysis where it

There is a direct correlation between the evolution of human connections and the advancement of technology. In this example, it is clear that the creation of the internet played a key role in the shift from a paternalistic physician-patient relationship to a mutualistic physician-patient relationship. Without widespread use of the internet, this change may not have occurred at all. In the years that followed the creation of the internet, modern technologies continued to change the healthcare experience, specifically, the ways patients interact with their physicians. Mobile healthcare apps and self-service kiosks that administer tests such as EKGs and take measurements of blood pressure and weight are quickly relieving nurses and physicians of their most basic duties while making healthcare more accessible and efficient (Jayanthi). Additionally, the creation and implementation of Electronic Health Records, many argue, introduce a third party to the patient-physician relationship reducing the weight given to direct communication with the patient in the diagnostic process. Another point of technological progression in healthcare is “telemedicine”, long distance communication between doctors and patients. This communication, which is usually performed over a video-chat, poses many promising benefits to healthcare. However, this dynamic may sacrifice the thoroughness and personal nature of the traditional physical exam. It

Complex mobile health applications help in areas such as training for health care workers, the management of chronic disease, and monitoring of critical health indicators. They enable easy to use access to tools like calorie counters, prescription reminders, appointment notices, medical references, and physician or hospital locators. These applications empower patients and health providers proactively to address medical conditions, through near real-time monitoring and treatment, no matter the location of the patient or health provider.

Social media is something that is basically a constant in most peoples’ lives in today’s times. It is something that is not going away. There are ways that people in healthcare can use social media in a way that is beneficial for their position and the healthcare industry. For example, a 2012 study by the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that 60 percent of doctors believe social media improves the quality of patient care they deliver. (Barajas, 2016) At the same time, though, there are times where a post, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is noncompliant and violates the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act. (HIPAA) According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the majority of HIPAA violations from recent years have occurred from employees mishandling Protected Health Information (PHI). (Response Mine Interactive, 2017) This paper addresses both the positive and negative effects that social media has on healthcare compliance including promoting services and benefits,

Since 2009 there has been increase of technology use in the healthcare setting. Approximately two-thirds of physician’s have adapted to the use of smartphones. (Kahn- Sarasohn, 2010). Some tools that are being implemented in the hospital setting are patient record programs, alerts, medical reference tools, diagnostic tools, and further medical education. This type of technology is so appealing because a smartphone is a mobile computer, which allows physician’s to receive real-time updates. In addition to the convenience of smartphones, the simplicity plays a major

However, it is imperative always to outweigh the positives and negative aspects of every implementation influencing patient care which is undoubtedly the cornerstone of safe and effective nursing practice. Therefore, it is worth noting that the electronic communication concept may have a negative connotation substantiated by multifaceted safety concerns. The first drawback from the use of smartphones or computers in the clinical setting is a creation a distraction for a health care provider from the task requiring concentration and undivided attention (Broussard & Broussard, 2013). Nevertheless, on the positive note, the utilization of cell phones improves the communication and collaboration within the team caring for the patient. The second objection to the introduction of smartphones in the medical practice is a creation of interpersonal distance between a provider and a patient by limiting eye contact and having no regard for being in the presence of the person who expects patient-centered approach (Broussard & Broussard, 2013). In like manner, the individual corresponding through a mobile device demands the same personal treatment as the one sitting in the exam room. Therefore, the emerging communication through advanced technology in the eyes of providers might be promoting exceptional and immediate access to patients no matter the place or time it also creates an impersonal relationship between the two while lacking

The traditional way of seeing the doctors is an office visit to the doctor’s office. But the game is changing, because of technology, the patient will be able to see the doctor anywhere they want without an appointment, avoid the waiting time and the exposure to other patients. The patients will be able to see the doctor face-to-face interaction with the help of healthcare technology. This will apply to the patients that are not seriously ill or do not require an in-person evaluation by their doctor. The doctor can video conference with the patient and with the help of smartphones turn into the doctor’s tools that allow them to record vital-sign, activity logging, heart-rhythm tracing, plus many other forms of in-depth physical examination. (Dr. Gay, Nic) By doing so, physicians and patients can easily access each other for healthcare issue and reduce some of the pressures and the costs from each side.

In recent years, the use of smartphones has revolutionised the landscape of communication. These smartphones provide real time communication anywhere at any time, while their rich multimedia and advanced displays can work with high speed data delivery and computing power. (Heron and Smyth, 2010). The increasing use of mobile phones has presented a new opportunity to approach health care challenges and swing the standard practice of health care access and delivery. This has fuelled the development of mobile health by integrating the mobile communication and its multimedia features into delivering mobile health care systems (Catalani et al., 2013). Hence the widespread of mobile technologies have the potential to improve healthcare service and the health of an individual. (App Development: An NHS Guide for Developing Mobile Healthcare Applications, 2014)