Things to keep in mind before developing a healthcare app in 2022
Introduction
Has anything that a human being created without giving it much thought ever been successful? No. You can not expect your brainchild to break all the previously set records by creating something without chalking out a plan. In the same way, you can not create healthcare apps without carefully considering a few essential things during Healthcare app development.
These are the things that determine the success of your Healthcare apps and how helpful people perceive these healthcare apps to be. No one likes to use complicated and hard-to-understand healthcare apps. The same is the case with healthcare apps providing inaccurate information.
Though there are over 400,000 healthcare apps on the App Stores, only a few have tasted the flavor of success. Moreover, most healthcare apps have as few as 10,000 downloads.
How would you feel if your painstakingly created healthcare apps met the same fate?
Summary
App development for healthcare apps is a booming sector, and there can be a growth of around 50,000 healthcare apps by 2025. 1. Healthcare apps help patients keep track of their fitness, nutrition, diets, and calorie intake. At the same time, Healthcare apps let medical organizations become more personal with their patients and keep track of their management tasks. 2. Lack of user-friendly content and language, low app usability, and glitchy functioning are detrimental to the future of your healthcare apps. There are more things to take care of during healthcare app development. One such thing is to involve clinicians and medical professionals in the app development for healthcare apps. 3. Likewise, figuring out your target audience and their needs helps you mold your healthcare apps accordingly. If any app (specifically healthcare apps) does not live up to their expectations, people will drop your apps like a hot potato! 4. The other thing you need to pay attention to while developing healthcare apps is patient data security, as no one likes to use an app where their data is not safe and secure. In short, healthcare app development must take care of the following things: 1. Your target audience- For whom you want to develop the healthcare app (Patients, Doctors, or staff members) 2. User guide creation- A way to help users use the healthcare app with ease 3. The Healthcare-professionals-patients communication portal- To let patients and doctors interact in real-time. 4. Healthcare apps designs- To make it look attractive and not loud to users. Use colors that are not too harsh to look at. 5. Device Security & Data security- Make sure that the data users give on the app is safe and secure. 6. UI/UX designs- You should try to ensure that overall user experience and interactivity with the software and computer systems go well. 7. Integration with healthcare wearables- The integration of Healthcare wearables and healthcare apps lets people use remote monitoring. 8. Tech Stack- The type of technology you should use. The preferred type is the one that is tried and tested and will not fade soon. 9. Healthcare apps feature- Choose whether it is just an MVP or an advanced healthcare app. 10. App testing- Simulate real-world scenarios during app testing and also perform unit testing. We discuss these things in the blog below, so stick around!
Things to keep in mind before Developing a healthcare app in 2022
Your target audience
A toy designed for a six-year-old will not excite a twelve-year-old. Similarly, healthcare apps devised for medical practitioners will not attract patients. Healthcare apps for patients and medical professionals are different as their functionalities and features are poles apart. Therefore, it is necessary to specify your target audience before deciding its features.
Also, all-in-one apps are good for nothing, unlike healthcare apps on one specific need.
You can try to answer a few questions to determine your target audience; these questions are as follows:
- Which problem are my healthcare apps going to solve?
- Who will use the app?
- How can my app appear more appealing than its rivals?
,etc.
User guide creation
It is a good idea to create a user guide for your target audience as it helps them use and explore your healthcare apps with ease. This user guide will teach your target audience how to achieve their goals. Suppose the healthcare apps that you have created are for patients. Then including a how-to section on how to communicate with doctors will be a good idea.
Healthcare professionals and patients' communication portal
Some healthcare apps claim to have the feature of patient-doctor communication. These apps should ensure that such professionals-and-patients communication portal actually works. Therefore, making sure patients can connect with their doctors using healthcare apps is crucial.
Moreover, creating a communication channel where private information is secure and messages get displayed at both ends is not only a need but also a want.
If your app glitches in the exchange of messages, users might flinch from using your healthcare apps.
Healthcare apps designs
The look of the app should not be shoddy and too loud. Your target audience dictates the way your app looks. If your app is for young patients, you can make it vibrant and make the font according to their taste.
On the other hand, if the app is for the elderly, you can make the fond bigger and easier to read.
Also, choose your app colors that are not too harsh to look at; no one would use healthcare apps that have gaudy colors.
Device Security
Even though Android constitutes over 80% of the smartphone market today, Android smartphones are less secure than iOS mobiles. Cybersecurity has dissuaded making apps for Android at all in the case of apps where security matters more than anything else.
Therefore to avoid data leaks, you should decide whether or not the user data might be at risk and then plan the medium accordingly. Healthcare apps that have failed in preserving user security have brought the credibility of their app developers into question.
Data security
The law of your country and safety regulations should decide the data security level of your healthcare apps. Data security is of utmost importance as if it gets into the wrong hand, patients will be at risk, and their valuable data might get used in illegal activities.
Your healthcare apps should comply with international and national privacy requirements that define the rules for working with medical data.
Based on your country of choice, you should comply with the following accordingly:
- HIPAA
- ADA (The Americans with Disabilities Act)
- PHI (Protected Health Information)
- HITECH (USA)
- GDPR
- DPLEF
- DPLED (The European Union)
- The Data Protection Act (The United Kingdom, PIPEDA (Canada)
,etc.
UI/UX designs
UI stands for User Experience, whereas UI stands for User Interface.
Both things are of immense importance in the successful working of any health. It is natural to expect the same in the case of Healthcare Apps.
Therefore, Healthcare app development should consider these two things while devising the app for their target audience.
It means the interaction between users and computer systems, software and applications should be as easy as possible (User Interface).
Likewise, the app as a whole should be a simple but effective concept that people could grasp with ease; their overall experience with your brand, product, and service are in this ambit (User Experience)
Integration with healthcare wearables
Healthcare wearable devices include health trackers and smartwatches, and according to Juniper Research, the healthcare wearables market will touch $20 billion by 2023.
These devices are in the rage nowadays and are competent in storing crucial patient data. They track patient data like heart rate, blood sugar, tremors, posture control, sleep patterns, and physical activities, which helps patients learn more about their health and fitness routine.
This type of data plays a critical role during remote monitoring as doctors require these values to diagnose their patients correctly.
Tech Stack
You should include technologies that are here to stay. It ensures that your app does not get into trouble if your used software technology goes obsolete. Also, one would like to use that technology that comes under the tried-and-true category and is trustworthy.
If you use a fading technology, there are chances that your developed healthcare apps will go out of use soon.
Healthcare apps feature
Healthcare apps and any other app, in general, have two sets of features. The first set of features includes those features that are basic and essential to the working of an app. On the other hand, the second set of features comes under the Advanced Features Set category.
If you aim to develop an MVP, you should focus on the basic features. You can improve their quality to differentiate your healthcare apps from your rivals. If you aim to develop an advanced healthcare app, go for the feature set, the Advanced Features Set category.
The features you want to include in healthcare apps define the cost you would need to pay and the required time for healthcare app development.
App testing
You would not like to discover that your app has bugs after its launch as it will only cause people to complain about your app, and soon it will spread like wildfire.
Testing during healthcare app development lets you think like a user and use the app the way they would do; app testing will make you come across some features that you thought were crucial but might be trivial or unnecessary for your user.
Also, testing lets you redesign those features or omit them altogether.
You can go for Unit Testing as it checks whether or not all code meets quality standards before deployment. Unit testing also saves time and money.
You would also be on the safe side if you test even the following things:
- Check your healthcare apps' security level and authenticities (PII, PHII, and HIPAA compliance)
- Try to test your app with low internet connectivity to simulate real-world scenarios.
- See whether your app is compatible with iOS, Android, Windows, and other browsers (If you have developed it for every platform)
Conclusion
Healthcare app development demands utmost attention and care since a faulty healthcare app can cost someone's health. You can also include the Internet of Things, Artificial intelligence, and Machine learning in your healthcare apps.
Also, it will be beneficial if you decide on the platform for which you are developing the app before jumping to app creation. The reason is that your app features depend on the platform on which it will run.
If you want to create healthcare apps for your organization and patients, contact AppsRhino today!
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