BEST PRACTICES
We have identified two initiatives that are relevant best practices for our project, the Wireless Reach Initiative by Qualcomm and the application Medscape by WebMD.
I. Wireless Reach Initiative from Qualcomm
We consider the Wireless ReachTM initiative from Qualcomm in China as a best practice for our project. As part of this initiative, 150 rural doctors in the Hebei Province in China have been given mobile devices, which provide access to electronic health records and treatment data bases. Doctors can thereby access patients’ health information and learn how to treat common problems. If necessary the medical staff is also able to remotely consult specialists in urban areas. We believe that by thoroughly studying this initiative, we can gain crucial insights into the execution and roll out for our project.
Impact of Initiative
- 3G Mobile Medicine has been expanded to 21 clinics in Xian County, Hebei Province
- Approximately 150 rural doctors have received instruction on how to use the application and accompanying devices as well as additional medical and technical training
- Participating clinics collectively serve 300,000 patients who have either directly or indirectly benefitted from the project.
II. Medscape by Webmd
We also consider WebMD and their smartphone application Medscape as a best practice for the development of our application. Medscape is an application for doctors and other healthcare professionals. The app provides integrated medical information and educational tools, such as on drug interaction, procedure reference, and daily medical news. In 2010, Medscape was the most downloaded free medical app for smartphones. We believe that by studying how WebMD has set up the application and continuously maintains high quality information, we learn for the development of our own application.