How to Use Mobile Apps Like a Pro When Traveling Abroad for Treatment
Overview
Increasingly, everyone, including doctors and medical travelers, is living in a mobile world. Mobile apps help you get around and find interesting things to do while traveling. Whether you are interested is history, food, architecture, music or medical treatments, there are lots of apps to help you make the most of your travels. Many apps are free, and they will help you narrow down where to go, what to see and do.
What happens when you're traveling and you suddenly find yourself sick or injured? Locating the nearest doctor or hospital might not be so easy, especially if you can’t speak the local language. There are a few emergency medical travel apps every globetrotter should download (and, hopefully, never have to use). Some of them tell you how to handle basic first aid questions and have links to find emergency medical care, while others allow you to input personal medical information, in case it's needed in an emergency. All these apps are actually handy whether staying home or traveling in a foreign country.
Mobile apps and medical tourism
The significant expansions in both the Android and iOS platform over the years have brought about the latest developments in medical and hospital application software. Using mobile apps to take care of medical needs is part of the future of the health care industry. These days there are apps that can do just about everything, from testing eyesight to checking blood sugar. The information is analyzed and in minutes pops up on the mobile device, giving users a comprehensive view that is easy for them to understand.
As more people turn to their mobile devices to simplify their lives in every way, smartphones are also becoming basic doctors. Mobile health touches every realm of medicine. There are even apps that can detect skin cancer by scanning moles and giving you a diagnosis on your phone. And the technology is changing the entire health care industry; including health insurance.
Every year, millions of leisure and business travelers either become sick or have accidents while traveling abroad. The ability to quickly get life-saving information on the best available medical resources is a must. This is why many apps are developed to provide users with vital information on international hospital locations, including current data on specialties, accreditation, procedures, and other medical services available, as well as detailed contact information that allows the user to instantly connect with the selected hospital or facility.
How mobile apps keep medical travelers healthy
Travelers know that an essential part of travel preparation is making sure you’re in good health for your adventure. If you ever became sick in a foreign country, you know you’re at a medical disadvantage, mostly because you don’t speak the language, and you don’t know the medical system.
Well, the mobile phone can be like an assistant - ready, willing, able to help, right in your pocket. Mobile apps can help you when you’re traveling, working, or living overseas and find yourself facing a healthcare crisis.
Some apps help you check medical symptoms, access data on specific health conditions, search prescription drugs and their side effects, find tips to help with first aid emergencies, find doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies where you’re located.
Do you ever forget to remember to take your prescription meds? When it comes to pill-taking while traveling, distractions can easily make you forget what to take when. You don’t need to worry about forgetting to take your meds anymore; some apps work like medical reminders, so before you travel all you have to do is record the names of your prescriptions with the times you should take them.
Other apps allow you to quickly access information for a healthcare crisis, such as local numbers for police, ambulance, poison control, hospitals, or the nearest U.S. Embassy. There are features that allow you to translate dozens of emergency phrases in primary global languages, access directions to nearby facilities via built-in GPS, store emergency phone numbers, and alert friends or family members.
Tips to use mobile apps when you travel abroad
When planning a trip overseas, be sure to include a review of mobile medical apps developed especially for travelers. It might make the difference in staying healthy on your trip, or wasting your time and money dealing with healthcare emergencies overseas.
- Make sure you're equipped with a proper phone
You will need an unlocked phone (some phones are electronically "locked" so you can't switch SIM cards). If it's not possible to unlock your phone, you can buy an unlocked phone either before your trip or at your destination. It's also possible to buy an inexpensive mobile phone that already comes with a SIM card. These phones generally work with just one provider.
- Purchase an international SIM card
You can purchase a prepaid SIM card when you arrive at your destination or, if you plan ahead, you can buy one in advance from trusted services. If you have a smartphone, look for a SIM card that also includes data. Also, there are phone plans with unlimited texting and data in many countries, no roaming charges for data or texting, and really affordable voice calls.
- Use Wi-Fi as much as possible
... regardless of your phone plan. There are apps that use your phone's GPS to find free Wi-Fi in your area.
- Use offline maps
Offline maps will save your data, and even your life. You can download offline apps, or cache your own offline maps in Google Mapss - just zoom in on the area you want to save, type "OK Maps" into the search bar, and press the "search" icon.
- Save data and battery
Turn data roaming off or put your phone in airplane mode. You can still send and receive calls or texts while your data roaming is off. Disabling "push notifications" and manually loading your email will help save data as well.
10 useful mobile apps for medical travelers
With thousands of applications widely available to users, it becomes a time-consuming task to choose which ones are best suited for your individual needs. This is especially true when it comes to the field of medicine and healthcare. Everyday, a considerable number of doctors, patients, healthcare professionals, and students make various searches related to hospital apps on the internet. And to make their search easier, here is a list of the top hospital apps in the market.
1. iTriage
This app will give you answers for questions like: "What medical condition could I have?" or "Where should I go for treatment?" It also lets you find hospital, urgent care clinics, doctors and pharmacies close to your location, and includes maps and directions to facilities. It lists thousands of medical symptoms, diseases, procedures, and medications. You may even be able to get wait times for select facilities, pre-register, and set appointments with select physicians. Additionally, the app allows you to store information like emergency contacts, medical conditions and medications you're taking.
If you've ever wanted to store all of your medical records in one app, try this one by Matrix Mobile Applications. It will house everything from your height, weight and blood type to your allergies and most recent vaccinations and medications, as well as insurance information. It can also help you find emergency services (fire, ambulance and police) in more than 200 countries, and it stores emergency contacts.
3. Epocrates
Available for both iOS and Android, and with millions of downloads across the country, this app gives you drug information and interactions, finds providers for consults and referrals, and quickly calculates patient measurements like BMI. While the app itself and most of its content is free, access to additional information and functionality (like lab guides, alternative medications, and disease information) requires an in-app purchase of Epocrates Essentials.
4.Medscape
This comprehensive medical software application offered on iOS and Android provides a large amount of free content which continues to grow with each and every update. It supplies reliable information on more than 7000 drug references, 2500 clinical images, CME activities, 3500 clinical references, hundreds of procedure videos and pictures and many more. The app requires you to register for a free account (which you can do through the app itself) to use it.
5. Evernote
This is a paid organization tool which is worth every penny. Through this app, users can open and read all their PDF files on the go. Recording atypical disease pathology while practicing is also made possible through its image capture and notes feature. This app is most useful for medical professionals who want to sreamline their PDF collection and capture disease pathology just in time. - See more at: https://www.medicaltourism-guide.com/2015/08/23/top-android-and-ios-hospital-apps/#sthash.wIKukqL4.dpuf
6. Isabel
This is a diagnosis assistance app for iOS and Android, with its results validated by studies which have been peer reviewed in dozens of different medical journals. You can easily double check your diagnoses with this app, that has a database with over 6,000 disease presentations and symptoms, and the ability to refine results by age, gender, and travel history. This app is not free and requires online access.
7. Help Call
Offers international police, fire department and ambulance phone numbers in 126 countries. There are four big buttons on the main screen: fire, police, ambulance and friend. The app automatically uses the correct emergency numbers from your current country location. It comes in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Polish. There's also a "shake for emergency" feature, which will tell your phone, when shaken, to dial an emergency number for you if you're unable to do it yourself.
8. mPassport
mpassport.com lists medical providers and pharmacies in several cities around the globe and lets you make appointments. The app translates important medical terms and phrases; you can hear them spoken in the local language. It also lets you connect directly with some emergency services.
9.MyChart
This is a free app for iOs and Android allowing you to access your medical records on your phone at any time - vaccinations you’ve had, the last time you visited the doctor, prescriptions you’re taking etc. You can also send a non-urgent message to your clinic and receive a response, schedule visits from directly within the app, request prescription refills, and see all your information online if you can’t access it on the phone.
10.PlacidMobile
PlacidWay, a leader in the medical tourism industry, offers extensive information related to medical travel, international medical providers, foreign treatment packages, as well as global destinations for health travelers. With PlacidMobile you can search over 1000 medical centers in 40 countries, compare pricing for different medical procedures, explore all inclusive treatment packages offered by various medical centers abroad.
Medical travelers still need to keep in mind that there is room for error with trusting health decisions to electronic gadgets. So experts say it's still best to consult a doctor after using an app.
PlacidWay continues to provide unique treatment packages to entice the fluctuating desires of every medical traveller. Through its partnerships with different medical providers worldwide, it facilitates the provision of healthcare services not found in the consumer’s home countries. So every patient can experience healthcare that is safe, affordable but high in quality, and customized according to his needs.
