Since Virginia Mason is a medical center, it is tough to envision how they can exceed with mobile technologies. The article on mobile technology brings up companies such as Kodak and compares them to modern day mobile applications such as Instagram. These comparisons make perfect sense; however for a medical center, thinking of mobile technologies can be challenging. Nonetheless creativity is definitely a must in the field of medical mobile technology, and the possibilities are endless.
When discussing mobile technologies, we can discuss the application side, as well as the web side. As far as applications, Virginia Mason can develop applications similar to the ones we see in app stores under “medical” categories. For example Apple’s iPhone App Store has applications such as “Pill Identifier by Drugs.com”, “Anatomy 3D – Organs”, “Skeleton System Pro III”, etc. Swedish Medical Center is an example of a local hospital that has an app on Apple’s iPhone App Store called “Swedish Kids Symptom Checker”. The app is designed to help parents with the most common behavior and wellness questions that they ask their physicians regarding their children. It is a creative idea; the app is currently free on Apple’s iPhone App Store with a 4 star user rating with a total of 13 reviews. Mobile applications such as these expose Virginia Mason to consumers worldwide. They can help build and keep relationships with their current or future patients.
Additionally, Virginia Mason does not have a mobile version of their website. When I log on to their site using my mobile phone, I am not redirected to a mobile version of the website; I view the same page that I see when I use my computer’s browser. Swedish Medical Center does not have a mobile version of their website either; however the Overlake Hospital Medical Center, another local competitor, does. Overlake Hospital Medical Center has a mobile version of their site which is very simple, user friendly, and efficient. You are redirected to the mobile site once you visit their website on your mobile device. Having a simple, user friendly, efficient mobile version of their website can make Virginia Masons’ website look more professional on mobile devices, making their mobile technologies more effective.
Virginia Mason could creatively use mobile to enhance awareness and engagement by creating apps such as the “Swedish Kids Symptoms Checker” created by Swedish Medical Center, and by having a mobile version of their website such as the one Overlake Hospital Medical Center has. For companies, mobile technologies are becoming more important as time progresses. The following fact from the Mobile Technology article is very interesting “Apple sold more iOS (iPads and iPhones) in 2011 (156 million), than all the Macs ever sold (122 million)”.
Source:
Fidelman, Mark. Forbes. Web. 22 May 2012. www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2012/05/16/how‑mobile‑is‑rapidly‑evolving‑the‑world/print/.
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