health care

According to float mobile learning, a consulting firm that specializes in mobile strategy and application development, there are currently more than 320 million mobile phones in the U.S. and 1.7 million hospital beds. That’s about 185 phones for every bed.

The emerging field of Mobile Health has enabled consumers to use smart phone technology to answer their own health-related questions with the quick tap of a touch screen – this in turn, will eventually lead to declining doctor visits. Float mobile learning’s research reveals that many experts in the field believe using mobile health technologies such as apps that monitor fitness and eating habits will increasingly benefit patients. Many doctors for example are in full support of patients monitoring their health at home, especially when it comes to watching weight, blood sugar and vital signs.

This great infographic on mashable.com provides a good overview of Mobile Health and the impact it’s making on our culture and our well-being.

10 years ago, it was attempted to counter the shortage of skilled IT workers in Germany with Indian specialists. Now, the nursing staff is scarce – and again, India seems to be the solution. But freelance nursing staff from around the world will be increasingly popular, too.

The shortage of skilled health care workers is, at least in part, based on the ageing of society in the industrial countries. The nursing crisis is noticeable in most OECD countries, a doctoral thesis that is being supported by the Institut für Europäische Gesundheits- und Sozialwirtschaft (IEGUS), states. The Eastern European Countries, which were considered to be a reservoir for cheap and professional nursing staff in the past, now require the staff to ensure their own population´s care.

According to the magazine „Ärzte Zeitung“, IEGUS expressed the idea to build an educational and developmental partnership with the aim to bring Indian nursing staff to Germany.

Apart from those partnership plans, national and international freelancers also benefit from the shortage of nursing staff, since they are highly qualified and flexible. The model of staffing projects with freelancers that has been successful especially in the IT sector is an attractive solution to the problem. Already, the idea of employing locum doctors, freelance nursing staff or hospital managers has found its way into the German health sector – a trend that will gain importance as the shortage increases.