No matter where you are or what you are doing advertisements for smart phones such as the iPhone or Blackberry are everywhere.  Most likely you would expect these smart phones to offer music, games, email, phone calls, Internet, address book, etc., but did you ever think that you would be able to use a phone to facilitate senior medical care?

Apple through the iPhone, revolutionized the application market, generating more than $1 billion in revenue each year from unique applications that other companies create to be used on their phones.   Recently applications have been created to take the iPhone to a whole new level in geriatric care.

There are now applications that let caretakers keep track of a geriatric person’s health no matter where they are.  These new applications allow family members/friends to track doctor’s appointments, weight, prescriptions, insulin schedule, hospital stays, emergency calls, etc.  People who download these applications and are able to: input the senior person’s data into their phone to keep track, send notes to other family members, set up alerts, and even send doctors the information they request straight from their phones without having to sort through thousands of paper documents and folders anymore.

Further flexibility includes, for example, if a doctor detects an aneurysm at a checkup, they can contact the appropriate family member or a caretaker who has this phone application and find out immediately when this was first diagnosed if at all, by which doctor, action taken, the last recorded size, etc  For doctors that are technically advanced and dedicated., they can actually set up permission to gain direct remote access to the application to view the senior person’s history and records computer-to-phone..

There are many companies and organizations creating application for smart phones, here are a few to take note of:

Ringful.  Their plan is to help users to change their behavior with more transparency and information.  They currently have approximately 19,000 active users using their application to record blood pressure, pulse measurements and workout routines, as well as to find information about local hospitals. The company offers free versions of its application and premium versions for $4.99 with additional charting and analytical capabilities. Ringful will soon release applications for pain management and smoking cessation.

AllOne Health Groupinc.  Caretakers and family members can view their medial history on the go, see prescription history/pharmacy information and receive alerts on medical appointments. It gives mobile access to existing personal-health records maintained by participating health plans and for users of Microsoft’s HealthVault program.

WebMD Health Corp. Will be launching free mobile applications for iPhones and BlackBerrys that enable users to view and update their WebMD online record from their phone.

This is just the start to the mobile medical application market.  But since we are a society that is continually on the go, having mobile applications that can hold and track a senior person’s medical history and information is an invaluable tool giving doctors up-to-the-minute information in the care of a senior person while making life easier and less stressful for the family.

*reprinted with permission from American Care Managers

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