Seems to me wherever I go people are looking to see what they should be doing about their apps strategy?  If all these potential customers are living on their mobile devices then I’d better move my applications to this world.  And so the focus on medical apps for mobile devices in healthcare.

And the craze seems to be big time happening in healthcare.  Not really that surprising.  In hospitals we have been looking for ways to make it easier to capture information, present information , share information.  And new devices, such as iPads, look like they offer part of the solution.  At least, they have created hope!

But are ‘apps’,per se, technology looking for a problem?

Read a very good piece by Brian Proffitt recently which is very cautious in its expectations for ‘medical apps’.

I’ve seen plenty of examples of hospitals looking to develop apps to increase their interaction with patients – with a view to improving likelihood that recovery paths will be followed e.g. post op physio/ exercise programmes.  And other initiatives generally aimed at improving on outdated websites – by providing more relevant, more easily accessible, information.

In his piece Brian Proffitt points out many of the challenges involved in developing applications which are subject to regulation e.g. FDA validation.  He alos references examples of ‘develop and they will follow’ – perhaps less time spend trying to develop the perfect application and more emphaisis on ‘the strong will survive’.

Personally I think the danger with much of the enthusiasm for apps is that proper analysis is skipped – people buy into the gadget, the new look and feel, but without real changes in process and commitment to change very little sustainable benefits will be realised.  Unfortunately, once again, there are no real shortcuts.