Telehealth platforms boomed during Covid-19 as healthcare providers attempted to maintain social distancing to protect patients from the virus.  It’s a transformation that has received warm support from patients, at least according to a recent study from Anglia Ruskin University.

“Our research found there is considerable potential for apps to actively support older people with their pain management and also improve communication with health professionals when physical services are unobtainable,” the researchers say. “They are cheap, informal, and popular.”

Pain management

The research found that smartphone apps were effective in improving the efficiency of the patient’s quality of life as they battled with pain management but urge developers and healthcare providers to ensure that user involvement in the development of these technologies is vital to ensure they’re both usable and accessible.

“Chronic pain is a significant cause of disability,” the researchers say. “The current COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted normal healthcare delivery, making it harder for people to physically access services, and even in normal times, healthcare services are under increasing strain.”

“However, telehealth apps are mostly produced without getting users involved in the developmental process. The need for information sharing, education, and self-administration of pain relief is almost completely neglected.”

This is especially important given the need for such systems to be developed with ethics clearly in mind.  This is particularly so with the use of the health data generated and processed by the apps.  With the global population of over 65s predicted to grow at a faster rate than any other age group, it’s clearly a growing market that will be well served by such technologies, providing they’re developed correctly.

“Data protection is a big concern for patients,” the researchers conclude. “The importance of data privacy and confidentiality should be acknowledged, and encryption and password-protected access to any data is important.”