Smartphone Camera Platforms in Mobile Health

Everyone understands that technology has become an informative gift and a security curse. In healthcare, we are ever wary of the risks that threaten privacy and personal health information. The cameras that are located on mobile phones are being geared towards more efficient and complete rendering of care. Mobile phone camera functions can only be utilized if risk and threat are lowered, and patients as well as care providers feel safe while using mobile technology.

It is pertinent that any information is used only by those whom it was intended for. It also absolutely necessary that personal health information is tightly controlled as to avoid the information being stored or documented in an insecure fashion.

I can think of a few examples of insecure storage and availability. Unclosed applications, desktops that were not signed off, passwords that are easy to guess. All of these, and many more, are ways by which information can fall into the wrong hands. The good things is that there are new innovations that can help thwart these issues. The issues will not be 100% solved. There will still be a need for awareness and cautiousness, but more secure storage and interoperability is a step in the right direction.

The camera on mobile phones can bridge the gap that exist between interoperability, communication, and security by providing functions such as secure texting. More secure texting platforms exist. Such a platform would utilize your phone's camera without accessing a personal camera roll. Effectively creating a barrier between a photo that is used for medical reasons and those that are used for everyday social life. Secure texting would involve using the software platform to take photos and store them behind your firewall. As I stated previosuly, these photos will be on your phone, but they will be seperate from the photos that are in the camera roll application that is included in the factory version of the phone. From there photos for medical use can be securely messaged to others or uploaded directly to a patient’s EHR. This function can also be used for speech therapy and speech progress reports. Perhaps a person has a speech empediment or is recovering from a recent stroke. As a a way of tracking progress, the patient can record themselves speaking and text the audio file to their care provider. Secure texting can be s very useful tool, but first it must be made interoperable with EHRs, then it must be made secure so that the privacy of patients is protected.