Pervasive Mobile Health

Background

Currently almost every healthcare organization depends on information and communication technology (ICT) in every level of their activities. One of the most valued aspects of ICT is its capability to enhance processes or functions to improve consistency, accuracy, and efficiency. Similarly, efficient and effective healthcare services have become increasingly dependent on accurate and detailed clinical information, which is transferred from interrelated departments or even between organizations (Conrick, 2006). In addition, people’s demands have changed because they have been empowered by the vast amount of information available and accesible to them through smart mobile devices, including mHealth related services (Anshari et al., 2013). For example, half of smartphone owners in US use their devices to get health information and one fifth of smartphone owners have health-related apps (Fox & Duggan, 2012). Despite some limitations of smartphones (Koushanfar et al., 2000), they can be used as services platform for mobile health information delivery, access and communication (Nkosi et al., 2010).