The use of technology in healthcare is changing the way people are cured. The emergence of telehealthcare shows how important part technology is playing in the healthcare sector. 

mhealth is one aspect of telehealthcare. As the name suggests, mhealth means “mobile health”. That means the use of mobile for healthcare. According to the World Health Organisation, mhealth is the “use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives.” In mhealth, not only a smartphone can be used to consult a top general physician online but it can become a way of accessing unlimited online telehealthcare. 

One more definition of mhealth according to the National Institute of health, is using mobile and wireless devices like cell phones, tablets, etc. to improve health outcomes, health care services, and health research.

The main word in both of these definitions is “mobile”. There is no place in the whole world that does not have mobile technology. According to a report, With around 270 million smartphone users, the smartphone market of the United States is one the world’s largest market. Therefore, a large population has access to mobile phones. Consequently, this population can get the benefit of mhealth.

This data makes the mhealth more important. In mhealth, patients use apps and various other technologies of mobile to monitor and cure themselves. mhealth eliminates the millions of miles of distance between a patient and doctor. 

mhealth is not telehealth 

People often confuse mhealth with telehealth. However, both of these terms have very different meanings. Telehealth is a broader term that includes the use of various types of modern technology in healthcare while mhealth means the use of only mobile technology in healthcare. mhealth is limited to the use of smartphones and their apps while telehealthcare has no such limit. Generally, in mhealth, patients feed their data into an app which then gives instructions based on the input. This is done without any doctor’s or any professional’s assistance. mhealth is more patient and data-centric. 

Benefits of mhealth

Useful for family members

Data collected in mhealth apps is useful not only for health professionals but also for caregivers and family members. In a way, these apps provide unlimited online telehealthcare.  Family members can use that data to prevent any potential health risks. They can keep a tab on the patient using mhealth. Therefore, mhealth is useful for family members. 

Fast and accurate diagnosis

The use of technology for recording stats, calculation, and diagnosis eliminates various human errors. This not only decreases the use of tiresome paperwork but also enhances the accuracy of diagnosis. Apart from that, mhealth can run automatic checks on prescriptions which consequently, reduces prescription errors.

Convenience

mhealth increases convenience not only of doctors but also patients. By using data collected in the apps and accessing that from anywhere, doctors do not need to carry reports physically. They also do not need to waste time searching for reports. Similarly, patients can have a virtual talk with doctors from anywhere using these apps. mhealth also provides better real-time communication between doctor and patient. Patients can consult a top general physician online from anywhere using mhealth.

Conclusion 

The increasing use of technology is transforming various fields. Almost every field uses technology. Healthcare is not an exception. The use of mobile technology to achieve healthcare objectives is called mhealth. Today, a patient can consult a top general physician using a smartphone. Such use of mobile technology has made life easy for both doctors and patients. mhealth provides helps in fast and accurate diagnosis, data collection, etc. In some cases, mhealth can give you access to unlimited online telehealthcare. Therefore, mhealth is an important part of telehealthcare that is helping people over the world.