The Editorial Board at the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine is proud to present Volume 2, Issue 1, published in April 2013. Mobile technology in Medicine is a rapidly developing area, and we hope to continue accelerating research in the field. We look forward to your submissions for Issue 2.
001 The Growth of mHealth in Low Resource Settings
R. Chakrabarti, C. Perera
Rahul Chakrabarti1, Chandrashan Perera1
1Editor-In-Chief. Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine
Corresponding Author: rahul@journalmtm.com
JournalMTM 2:1:1-2, 2013
The ever increasing global interest integrating mobile health is evidenced by a shift in the paradigm from one of curiosity to establishing an evidence base for its use. Not surprisingly, over the last past three months there have been several major publications in journals with a broad medical readership that have commented on the evidence for mHealth interventions. Most notably, Free and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine published two excellent meta-analyses in PLoS Medicine quantifying the effectiveness of mHealth interventions. The studies concluded that presently there are few studies of high methodological quality in the field of mHealth. The limited strength of evidence was in support of using Short Message Service (SMS) reminder to improve patient attendance, facilitating communication amongst health professionals, and improving patient adherence to medication (in the context of anti-retroviral treatment in HIV).(1, 2) The authors highlighted major methodological limitations and lack of scientific rigour in study design and analysis the lack of objective clinical outcomes, and the heterogeneity between reported outcomes amongst studies with similar interventions. Importantly, few studies were conducted in low-resource settings, where mHealth is well positioned to have a large impact.
Nicole Koehler1, Olga Vujovic2,Christine McMenamin1
1Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 2Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital, Victoria,
Corresponding Author: nicole.koehler@monash.edu
Background: Over the last few years mobile phone applications have been designed for healthcare professionals. However, little is known in regards to healthcare professionals’ use of and attitudes towards using smartphones (and applications) within clinical practice. Thus the aims of the present study were to enumerate the number of healthcare professionals that use mobile phones within clinical practice and their attitudes towards using them. Furthermore, given that the internet preceded smartphones, we also established healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards internet use in clinical practice as a comparison.
Method: Forty-three healthcare professionals from a range of disciplines and specialities who were predominantly working in Australia completed an anonymous online survey.
Results: Ninety-one per cent of healthcare professionals owned a mobile phone of which 87% used it during clinical practice. No healthcare professional was supplied with a smartphone by their clinical/healthcare workplace. Consequently they used their privately owned device. For ten out of eleven analogous statements healthcare professionals had significantly more positive attitudes towards internet than mobile phone use in clinical practice. However, attitudes for eight of the ten statements pertaining to mobile phone use were positive. Mobile phones were perceived negatively in regard to confidentiality. Furthermore, healthcare professionals’ also had the perception that patients may think that they are using their mobile for non-medical purposes.
Conclusion: Mobiles, including smartphones, are commonly used within clinical practice and at present most healthcare professionals use their privately owned device. Despite healthcare professionals having more positive attitudes toward internet use, their attitudes towards mobile use were largely positive. Our results suggest that mobile phone use, in particular smartphone use, within clinical practice is likely to increase in the future.
Nicole Koehler1, Olga Vujovic2,Christine McMenamin1
1Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 2Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital, Victoria,
Corresponding Author: nicole.koehler@monash.edu
Journal MTM 2:1:14-21 2013
DOI:10.7309/jmtm.77
Background: New technology such as the internet and mobile phone applications (“apps”) are increasingly being used in clinical practice. However, little is known in regards to individual’sattitudes towards medical professionals using the internet and apps in the context of their own medical care. The aim of the present study was to examine and compare individual’s attitudes towards the use of medically related internet sites and apps in clinical practice.
Method: Participants completed an on-line survey which contained questions regarding their own use of mobile phones and the internet, their use of healthcare facilities, and their attitudes towards medical professionals using the internet and apps during consultations. Attitudes were assessed by asking participants to rate 11 statements on a 5 point scale.
Results: The survey was completed by 141 individuals. All participants owned a mobile phone, with 82% owning one with application support. Furthermore, all participants had access to the internet at home. Generally participants had more favourable attitudes towards medical professionals using the internet than apps. For example, participants found it more acceptable for doctors to use medically related internet sites than mobile phone apps during consultations with patients.
Conclusion: It is possible that attitudes towards the internet were more favourable than that for apps because the internet has been available longer and consequently individuals are more familiar with it. Prior to using newer electronic resources, especially apps, medical professionals should adequately inform patients in regards to their intended use to avoid potential misconceptions.
Andrew Bastawrous1,2, Benjamin Hennig3,Iain Livingstone4
1MRC Clinical Research Fellow in International Eye Health, International Centre for Eye Health, London2Kenyan Ministry of Health, Division of Ophthalmology, Nairobi 3Research Associate, University of Sheffield, Sheffield,4Ophthalmology Registrar, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Glasgow
Corresponding Author: Andrew.bastawrous@ishtm.ac.uk
Journal MTM 2:1:22-25 2013
DOI:10.7309/jmtm.78
A global shift in predominance of mobile/cell phone ownership in the last decade has seen low-income countries reach near ubiquitous levels. Using 11 years of compiled census data from each country worldwide we mapped the global picture of cell phone ownership and used density-equalizing cartograms to depict this change.
Estimates of wealth distribution reveal that the richest 2 per cent of adult individuals own more than half of all global wealth, with the richest 1 per cent alone accounting for 40 per cent of global assets. In contrast, the bottom half of the population together hold approximately 1 per cent of global wealth. Members of the top decile are almost 400 times richer, on average, than the bottom 50 per cent, and members of the top percentile (the 99th percentile) are almost 2000 times richer. (1)
The association of wealth inequality and poor population health has been well described. (2) The ability of healthcare professionals to impact this in a positive way is limited and has traditionally been the role of those in government or positions of political and economical influence.
Geena Skaria1
1Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health Information Management, Manipal University, Manipal
Corresponding Author:geena.skaria@manipal.edu
Journal MTM 2:1:26-29, 2013
DOI:10.7309/jmtm.79
mHealth is one area which has major scope in developing countries like India, especially in the field of health Information delivery. It can play a major role in improving the health literacy among rural population. But there are barriers to the growth of mHealth in India. India is a country with numerous languages, diverse culture and living styles which makes it difficult to propagate standard set of information to people from all walks of life. Innovative ideas should be formulated to target people with differing languages and literacy levels, thus widening the scope for mHealth development in India.
Global health challenges have gained attention in last few years. This changing scenario has influenced the life style of people around the globe. The standard of living is comparatively higher than that of previous century. The more the comfort, more is the risks towards health. In modern societies, almost every aspect of our lives is challenged with questions and decisions on health. People are expected to take health decisions for themselves or for their families at some point of their life.(1) It is at this point people seek information related to health. Technology now has a huge influence on people’s life, which makes people more depended to it. Mobile phone is one such device which has created revolution in the world. It has now made world into a smaller place where almost everyone around the globe is within your reach. Mobile phone has put its strong feet in the industry throughout these years by arming itself with additional features like SMS, MMS, music /video downloads, video conferencing and so on, thus becoming the cheapest means of communication and entertainment in the modern world.
