Mobile phones play a really important role in the industry of medicine today. At a very basic level, it is much easier to reach doctors in case of an emergency now that we all have cell phones and there is a wide range of area for mobile phone coverage. At a more complex level, mobile phones are being used to improve medicine in third world countries, increase compliance with taking medications and even to replace standard medical resources such as ultrasound technology or the use of guide dogs for the blind. Additionally, mobile phone recycling programs are often designed to benefit businesses that provide health care services to people.

Mobile Phones and Health in Developing Countries

One of the most prevalent areas of development in medicine in which the mobile phone has played a key role is the improvement of medical options for people in developing nations. People in third world countries get better access to medical diagnoses and advice as a direct result of being connected to doctors via mobile phones. They may also be more willing to discuss certain medical issues via text message than in person with a doctor and so could be getting more of the important care that they need when mobile phone communication is an option for them.

Mobile phones allow health care providers in remote locations to communicate with doctors in more technologically advanced parts of the world. This can lead to significant improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of patients in developing countries. For example, a health care worker in a remote part of Africa can use mobile phone imaging and communication to transmit information about patients there to doctors in major cities around the world. Those doctors can use the technology they have available at their own hospitals to diagnose the problems of the patient and to recommend a course of treatment. This allows people who would never be able to leave their remote area to get access to high-quality medical care from around the world.

Mobile phones also allow for a certain level of privacy that people don’t get when they are speaking face to face with a doctor from their small communities. It has been found that patients in some areas are more willing to ask questions about taboo subjects (such as sex education and HIV prevention) when they can do so over the phone or through text messaging. This allows for disease prevention that might not be possible if access to that mobile phone communication was not available. Text messages can also be used to remind those patients to take their medications even if a doctor isn’t going to be available in the area for appointments anytime soon.

Using Mobile Phones to Increase Compliance with Taking Medications

In fact, mobile phone text messaging is being used with patients in all parts of the world to increase compliance with taking medications. It has been found through several different studies that individuals are more likely to remember to take their medications if they receive a text message alert that tells them to do so. People can download applications to their phones today which are specifically designed to alert them to take their daily medications. It has even been found that text messages are efficient in getting people to stay on top of their vaccinations.

Using Mobile Phones as Ultrasounds

Better communication with doctors and health care providers isn’t the only way that medicine has been improved by mobile phones. The mobile phone technology itself is capable of assisting doctors in their work. A recent advance in this area is the development of using mobile phones as ultrasounds. Engineers at Washington University were recently successful in creating a device that is part ultrasound, part mobile phone. This mobile phone device can be used to scan the entire body to check for a variety of different health problems. Mobile technology is likely to advance to offer additional mobile phone medical imaging such as MRIs by mobile phone. This is something that can be used to diagnose patients who can’t get themselves to a hospital for one reason or another. It’s also another advance that will further improve medicine in third world countries.

Mobile Phones as Guide Dogs for the Blind

Yet another cool development in medical mobile technology is the ability of mobile phones to identify objects. This could be used to allow mobile phones to replace seeing eye dogs for the blind. One example of this is a Windows Mobile application called SeeScan which uses the phone’s camera and a pattern recognition program to identify objects. The phone can be pointed at objects and the phone will identify the object and then speak aloud a description of what the object is so that the visually impaired user can “see” what’s around him or her using the “eyes” of the phone.

Mobile Phone Recycling Programs for Donations

For those people who do need to continue to use seeing eye dogs, the mobile phone may actually play an important role in training those guide dogs. That’s because there is a program through which you can donate your old phone to raise money for a charity that trains guide dogs. This is just one example of a health-related organization that raises money through cell phone recycling programs. Even after the phone can’t be used by you anymore, it can play a part in bringing improved health to the world around you.

Back to the Basics for Medical Mobile Phone Benefits

All of these medical advances are great. However, the mobile phone has also just done some really basic things that have improved the access that we all have to health care. These days, you almost always have a mobile phone with you and you are almost always near coverage to that phone. This means that you can call to get emergency medical care no matter where you are located which was not the case just a few short years ago. Furthermore, the fact that doctors now all carry cell phones means that it’s easier for their staff (and therefore their patients) to reach them with questions and medical concerns. You just didn’t get the same response when doctors were only using pagers to stay in touch!