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Health Technology, Digital Healthcare

Article | August 16, 2023

Smoking has a lot of consequences to one’s health. It can lead to cancer, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—all of which are chronic diseases. This is part of the reason why the Health and Human Services agency reports that 70% of adult smokers want to quit. As a medical provider, adults looking to stop smoking will come to you for advice and treatment. One alternative smoking product you might want to recommend is an e-cigarette, given their prevalence in recent years. In this article, let’s take a deeper look at whether e-cigarettes’ should be recommended for smoking cessation and what other treatment options to endorse to patients. Are e-cigarettes approved for smoking cessation? Electronic cigarettes, more commonly known as e-cigarettes, are devices that vaporize nicotine-based liquid to be inhaled by its user. It almost replicates the experience of smoking a cigarette due to the device’s shape and the vapor it produces. However, the FDA has yet to approve e-cigarettes for smoking cessation because there is currently limited research on their effectiveness, benefits, and risks for the human body. Additionally, scientists at the University of California found harmful metals in the vapor from tank-style e-cigarettes. These e-cigarettes are equipped with high-power batteries and atomizers to store more liquid. These result in high concentrations of metals like iron, lead, and nickel in the vapor. Exposure to and inhaling metallic particles may impair lung function and cause chronic respiratory diseases. As such, medical providers should not recommend e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. What can medical providers recommend for smoking cessation? Smoking cessation medication Presently, two FDA-approved prescription medicines for smoking cessation are Bupropion and Varenicline. Bupropion is an antidepressant that decreases tobacco cravings and withdrawal symptoms. It does this by increasing the brain chemicals dopamine and noradrenaline. This comes in a pill and can be used alongside other smoking cessation aids. Varenicline also reduces cravings and nicotine withdrawal symptoms. It blocks nicotine receptors in the brain, decreasing the amount of enjoyment one gets from smoking. One thing to note about this is that it will take several days for Varenicline's effects to take place. Therefore, it's best to prescribe these pills 1-2 weeks before the patient quits smoking. Like Bupropion, Varenicline may be used simultaneously with other quit-smoking products. Nicotine Replacement Therapy Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is a treatment involving nicotine consumption at gradually decreasing levels. This reduces the patient’s desire to smoke without them having to quit cold turkey. NRT involves using nicotine alternatives that don’t produce smoke, such as nicotine pouches and nicotine gum. Nicotine pouches are oral products containing ingredients like nicotine, flavoring, and plant-based fibers. These are placed between the lip and gum, where nicotine is absorbed into the bloodstream. Different variations have different strengths. On! pouches come in different strengths: 2mg, 4mg, and 8mg. Patients may start from 8mg variants and gradually decrease this dosage as their NRT progresses. Pouches also come in a wide range of flavors—including citrus, mint, and berry—to entice users. Meanwhile, nicotine gum is chewing gum that contains nicotine. It is chewed a few times before being parked between the gums and cheek for nicotine absorption. The nicotine gums by Lucy are a significantly better alternative for tobacco users. Like pouches, this gum comes in several flavors, such as cinnamon, mango, and wintergreen, and different strengths ranging from 2mg to 6mg. Counseling The recommendations mentioned above—medication and NRT—are more effective when coupled with counseling. A Primary Care Respiratory Medicine study revealed that successful smoking cessation is best attained through pharmacological treatment and counseling. Sessions typically involve a patient meeting with a counselor and they discuss their smoking habits, possible causes, and how to mitigate them. Medical providers should include counseling in addition to medication and NRT. E-cigarettes have yet to be approved by the FDA as smoking cessation aids. For now, medical providers should provide medication, NRT, and counseling to patients who want to quit smoking.

Health Technology

Article | September 12, 2023

There are times that we encounter negative thoughts that can be overwhelming. For some people, the more they try to get rid of their thoughts, the stronger they become. As a result, here is a brief list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their negative thinking. 1. Do not focus on your fearful thinking: The first thing a person must do is not to dwell on the fear provoking thought when it comes. The more a person tries to reason out on the fear behind the thought, the stronger it becomes. The next time you encounter a negative situation, get into the practice of not dwelling on it. 2. Think of a red stop sign: At times, a person might encounter a fearful thought that may be difficult to manage. When this happens, visualize a red stop sign which can serve as a reminder to think about something else. Regardless of how scary your negative thinking may be, do not dwell on it. This technique is great in dealing with your negative situations and depression. 3. Its only fear: The difference between an obsessive thought and a regular one is that an obsessive thought is based on fear. With this in mind, try to find the source of the fear behind your negative thinking and then find ways to get rid of your worries. 4. Your thoughts are exaggerated: Sometimes, a person may encounter a lot of scary thoughts coming at them all at once. Instead of getting upset, remember that your negative thinking is exaggerated with worry. Ignore the fear behind these obsessive thoughts, regardless how the strong the fear may be. 5. Challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking: When encountering thoughts that make you fearful or depressed, challenge them by asking yourself questions that will maintain objectivity and common sense. Focus on the reality of your situation and not on your negative thinking. 6. Carry a small notebook of positive statements with you: A person should keep a small notebook of positive statements that makes them feel good. Whenever they come across a positive and uplifting verse that makes them happy, write it down in a small notebook. A person can then carry this notebook around in their pocket and whenever they feel anxious, they can read their notebook. 7. Take it one day at a time: Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week or month, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your situation. In addition, you will not feel overwhelmed with everything if you focus on one thing at a time. 8. Get help: Take advantage of the help that is available around you. If possible, talk to a professional who can help you manage your fears and anxieties. They will be able to provide you with additional advice and insights on how to deal with your current problem. By talking to a professional, a person will be helping themselves in the long run because they will become better able to deal with their problems in the future.

Healthtech Security

Article | August 31, 2023

The world is moving towards digitalization in every domain. And now COVID-19 has imposed a need for remote work and communication environments. In that case, healthcare organizations have started utilizing medical software with cutting-edge technologies that could offer mobile health solutions. And they could cater to such needs through a healthcare software development company. Therefore, the medical institutions must opt for the right healthcare software vendor that is familiar with the new trends in the healthcare sector. Such companies can help optimize digital patient care through health care application development. Importance of healthcare software development company Or why you need one? Healthcare software development companies process applications to store, retrieve, and share user data. They are connected globally through cloud services. Partnering with a healthcare software company can avail you of many benefits like: Better Patient Experience A professional healthcare software developer can manage your medical software very smoothly and effectively. This could help in delivering better patient experiences. It also enables you to get access to the patient’s information before the appointment. A dedicated healthcare development company will ensure to deliver faster patient checks with lesser paperwork. The information is filed electronically and considers order prescriptions smoothly. Easy Scheduling and Maintenance Healthcare software development services offer a strong scheduling system. It helps in finding out the convenient date and time for the patient’s appointment at their comfort. The medical software is flexible to perform such tasks smoothly. It also solves the issues of overbooking through proper scheduling. Easy Billing and EHR Billing is an intimidating task in the healthcare industry. A good healthcare software offers easy billing and EHR facilities. It also helps you automate the processes involved in the EHR model. Healthcare software development services: Important factors to consider Focus on usability and ease of use Healthcare employees have a busy job. So, they prefer a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate interface. Only such an interface could ensure a high user adoption rate. Additionally, healthcare institutions need to prepare their employees for any changes in their working process that the new software solutions might bring. For that, they need to provide adequate training and support, so that when the time comes, they can derive the maximum advantages out of the software solutions according to Vishal Shah from TatvaSoft.com Integration with various applications Various system integration requirements are used to make sure the new solutions work properly with other systems. You should also look further for whether current legacy systems need any upgrades to integrate them with the new solutions. A professional administration Access to the data by specialist doctors to update the data is necessary. However, access to the data should be strictly restricted with proper arrangements. Information security Medical care organizations need proper security measures with laws on data, protection, and other security principles. A leak of patient information is a critical issue that may cause weighty business misfortune. Only the approved staff with rights to oversee the admittance to information and patient records can approach the necessary data. Development costs Development costs depend on the size and complexity of the software or applications which is directly connected to the specific business needs of the healthcare organizations. First, an organization needs to identify key problems that require software solutions. Also, consider the future IT needs of healthcare institutions such as potential business expansion and its scalability and integration requirements. A mobile workforce can help your organization attain more efficient workflow and enhanced productivity. Healthcare IT infrastructure IT infrastructure includes hardware, devices, internet connection speed, and/or mobile 4G connection, and many more. Healthcare agencies need to consider whether such infrastructure will be offered by the development company or if the organization has to use its resources. While using employees’ resources may compromise security, it is suggested that employees must be given the devices and technologies by the companies. The devices and technology need to be updated on the regular basis. Questions to Ask Healthcare Software Development Company We have compiled a list of some questions that could help you get the best and most suitable medical IOS and Android app development partner. Do you know/understand how HIPAA privacy protection rules might apply to healthcare software products? HIPAA can be subtle and complicated. Federal and state laws have included HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules for the privacy and security protections for hospitals and medical institutions. There will be many healthcare software developers who won’t be familiar with HIPAA and how it is applied to the products. You must check that out. Can we sign an NDA? If your business idea is precious from the IP (Intellectual Properties) perspective then you must ask the app development company to sign the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) before you discuss any details of the project. It is also signed to protect sensitive business details from any third party. Can I have the contact information of your former clients? It is vital to have a look at the mobile application development agency before you consider them to hire. However, you won’t get the entire picture and other details but to get that you can ask the company for the contact information of some of their former clients. Get in touch with their former clients, ask them about their experience working with the agency. The goal is to not only have a great app at the end but also go through an app development process that is stress-free, easy, and enjoyable. Checking for reviews and references is the key when it comes to hiring mobile application developers. What is your Software development methodology? Latest best practices like scrum and agile development are far more reliable compared to conventional methods. Software development companies nowadays practice them to be more efficient and productive. They understand that the market changes quickly and to cope up with it, they need to be capable of adapting to the changes quickly. How experienced are your healthcare software developers? Check for the experience of the developers employed by your medical software development partner. They need to be qualified to build medical solutions and deliver them within a predetermined budget and timeline. How to choose? Even if you have decided to work with a healthcare software development company, there are hundreds of companies out there, and all claim to be the best in the field. How would you choose the one that can help you achieve your goals? Analyze their Area of Expertise and their Experience as a Healthcare Software Developer Quality is the one thing that should be never compromised no matter how complex your demands are. In the software development healthcare industry there are many standards and compliance requirements like HIS and HIPAA that need to be catered to. Therefore, you need to analyze their area of expertise and their experiences. Only experienced healthcare software vendors can understand and fulfill the critical needs of customers. However, expertise isn't enough. You also need to look at the certifications to gain deeper knowledge about the healthcare solution developers’ level of professionalism. Go Through Their Healthcare Software Development Portfolio to Get a Better Idea of Projects and Quality Go through the portfolio of the potential healthcare software development partner. Look at their past projects in the healthcare domain and check if it matches your requirements. Research about their market reputation and reach as well as find out whether they serve the organizations in your niche. The key factors to look for in the portfolio: Types of healthcare software they have delivered in the past Clients they have served- names, strength, and value The complexity of projects they’ve handled The kind of experience they provide to the users Technologies they excel in Reviews and Ratings Could Be Helpful Find out what the customers are talking about this company. Analyze their reviews and ratings. Understand how a particular healthcare software development company deals with their clients and cater to their services. Carefully Understand their Process Almost every company has a unique process to provide their healthcare software development services. But all processes generally consists of the following: 1. Requirement analysis 2. Scope freezing 3. Product prototyping 4. Product development 5. QA and testing 6. Deployment 7. Post-launch support These software development processes could follow any approach from waterfall to agile methodology. Know the details of the process from your healthcare software development partner and understand how it aligns with your goals. And never hesitate to clear your doubts. Know the Cost to Develop a Healthcare Software Everyone has a budget and make sure you have communicated well about your software development budget with your potential healthcare technology partner. Ask them about the cost to build the software and look for the cost to quality ratio. After gathering all the necessary details, make an informed decision. Understand the Engagement Models to Choose the Best Engagement models are the ways of collaboration for the business relationship. You can choose from the following: A. Turnkey Engagement Model It is also known as the fixed price model. When you share your demands, you get a fixed quote for the work. This is an ideal model for: Short-term projects Projects with a well-defined scope For assigning test tasks to the developers B. Time and Material Basis Model In this model, hiring is done based on time and material. A client agrees to pay a hired software development company based on the time the developers spend after developing their products and other relevant tasks. The payments are done according to the mutually agreed hourly rate. The model is suitable when: Unclear requirements or specifications, A long-term project with dynamic pricing The client needs more flexibility C. Dedicated Hiring Model As the name suggests, it enables you to hire dedicated resources from the web development company. One can hire a web development company for your project, depending on the number of hours spent by the developers on your project. This model is best suited for: Clients who are looking for an extension to their in-house team Those who have unclear project requirements The hirer is looking for more flexibility Find out What Does the Healthcare Software Development Company has to Offer Post-launch You are mistaken if you believe that the healthcare software development cycle ends with the launch of the product. There are chances of hitting obstacles any time and do not forget that the market keeps changing in terms of technology and user demands. This means you might need to upgrade your software or need to add some features to it. For all such requirements, the healthcare software development agency offers support and maintenance services for a limited time post-launch. There could be specific terms and conditions for it too. So, before you hire any agency, do not forget to inquire about the support and maintenance services offered by them and its price. What is the Team Structure that They Would Provide You? Ask about the team structure offered by the company for your software development project. You can interview a potential team of software developers if you want to. You should do it to assess the capacity of the team. In general, a software development team consists of: 1. Requirement analyst 2. Project manager 3. UI/UX designer 4. Software developer 5. QA tester and engineer Also, you need to convey your requirements clearly to the software development agency so that they can do justice to your project. Ability of a Healthcare Software Development Company to Assist You For Expanding Your Software’s Features The main goal of developing medical software is to increase the efficiency of your operations, automate them, enhance them, and last but not least: offer a better patient experience. Therefore, above all other things, you must check out the ability of the custom healthcare software development company to expand or scale-up the product as per your needs. Areas of Use Custom healthcare development is used in the following areas: Telemedicine Telemedicine is a flourishing branch for custom software development companies in the healthcare business. App development is crucial for telemedicine and healthcare providers because it facilitates teleconsultation and healthcare information. Mobile applications play a key role in sharing medical services and information among patients. Healthcare portals and patient databases There is a wide scope for a healthcare app or a patient portal that could compile and store the data categorically over long periods. This type of storage of health data can be accessible by the doctors in the form of medical records when they are seeing the patient, even if it is the first time. One can pull the data off the EMR and EHR which maintains such a set of data records. To ensure the protection of the data, personal information is kept confidential and only between the patient and doctor, on the portals. E-consultations and e-prescription E-consultation is one of the latest practices in digital healthcare services. Mobile apps are developed that are compatible with both iOS as well as Android and are user-friendly. Such applications enable patients to consult with the doctors remotely based on their healthcare needs and get e-prescriptions as well. They can also get online treatment plans for certain diagnoses through this. The healthcare software developers have similar solutions for virtual billing software and e-pharmacy management. VR and AR healthcare software development Since their initial release, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality have been very helpful in medical care especially in the COVID-19 remote healthcare scene. Ran through a powerful technology stack, AR-VR enables the patient to feel and see how a treatment or a medical device works. Big Data and AI solutions for healthcare Healthcare is one of the Big Data industries. It manages the flow of large volumes of medical data daily. To ensure that the collected data is used well, healthcare services are now powered by AI. Health tracking and fitness apps Wearable technology is gaining immense popularity these days. The products include smartwatches and bands that could track heart rate, sleep cycles, number of steps walked, and many more. These kinds of applications built by expert healthcare developers are among the most downloaded on the internet. Conclusion Custom healthcare software is important for healthcare organizations to make their process easier as possible. The COVID-19 pandemic is further popularizing telemedicine, e-consultation, AI solutions, fitness, and other health applications. I know choosing a suitable healthcare software development company is not easy, but if you follow the process mentioned in this article, you can get the best and top-rated software developers who create apps for the medical and health care industries. I hope this article has guided you well to understand better about healthcare software development companies. However, if you have any queries or suggestions, please connect with us in the comments section below.

Article | April 13, 2020

Before we discuss the importance of telehealth and how it is changing the nursing industry in general, it is important to understand what telehealth is all about. With the advent of new-age technologies and their impact on the fast-paced, growing population, medical health is an essential department that requires special attention. One’s health is of utmost importance, and to enhance the medical facilities, we as responsible citizens and experts in this particular field must come up with novel and quick solutions to provide optimum precaution and cure. Hence, one of such technological achievements is telecommunication,s and by utilizing such a useful resource, health-related services too can be offered. Telehealth promotes the distribution of various services related to medical health through electronic devices and telecommunication technologies. What can one possibly do if he or she lives in a different country and is pushed to an emergency situation where he requires medical advice from a physician who lives in another corner of the world? Of course, through telecommunication devices, the whole process of exchanging information becomes smoother and easier. Several health-related services such as medical advice, medical care, monitoring, education, remote admissions, and intervention can be extended to a long-distance patient with the help of telehealth facilities. Hence, the contemporary picture of health and medicine has been radically improved with the introduction of these electronic telecommunication systems.