In light of recent events concerning the pandemic and organic growth in popularity of online platforms, mobile apps for doctors have been quite popular. They offer a lot of conveniences, leading to higher traffic in the Play Store and App Store.
Healthcare-related mobile apps must be easy to navigate through to increase the efficiency of the application. To enable this, there need to be certain features incorporated in all medical applications. These are as follows.
Simple Registration and Login
First impressions are not the last, but they impact users to quite a large extent. Registration and sign-ups are the very first step in the process of using an application. App developers must ensure this step is convenient to get through. It can be made simple by allowing multiple forms of registrations, for example, through your email account, phone number, etc.
Booking Features
Most mobile apps for doctors offer online booking features. The main aim of online booking is to avoid the hassle of calling the hospital or doctor. To make sure this aim is met, the booking process mustn’t be too tedious.
One of the most important features of booking systems is the alignment of appointments and calendars. It will be frustrating for both the patient and the doctor if the slot bookings are not updated regularly.
Video Conferencing
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, online consultations through video calls have become quite popular. This is largely because COVID-19 patients can not go out for consultations. And non-COVID patients do not want to expose themselves to the virus by going outdoors. Additionally, it is difficult for doctors to manage clinic appointments.
Due to the hesitance towards in-person consultations, mobile health apps must have a proper video conferencing system. In such cases, tie-ups with a video call enabling company is a good idea.
E-Prescriptions
If consultations happen online, it is only natural to predict that patients would expect prescriptions online. This feature plays a significant role in the doctor and patient’s post-consultation experience because both parties might want to refer to it in the future.
Progress Tracking
Once given a prescription and diagnosed with an illness or ailment, patients are keen on tracking their progress in terms of recovery. It can be through features such as blood pressure and heartbeat trackers. Tracking features are all the more prevalent in health apps, for example, ones that track weight loss. These apps require a proper measurement algorithm to keep a record of calories, exercise, etc.
Messaging
After consultations, patients may have some small queries or doubts regarding the prescription or a new symptom they might be facing. These are usually concerns that do not require an entire consultation. So, enabling patients to message or contact the doctor is an integral part of the application.
Making it easy for patients to message doctors is convenient for them, and they will trust the application more.
Notifications
Notifications by medical apps are sent mostly for reminders or updates. But many apps overuse this feature and send excessive amounts of notifications. It leads to a lot of people uninstalling the app as constant notifications are bothersome. To avoid such uninstallations, you must ensure that the notifications do not become an annoyance for the user but rather based on important information they need.
User Dashboard
Having an easy-to-use dashboard for the patients creates a better user experience. It is essential to build a dashboard that gives users the vital information that patients and doctors may be looking for. It should be an easy-to-use interface that makes it convenient for navigating. Dashboards can provide a range of information such as records of physiotherapy exercises, nutrients the patient is taking, food the patient must avoid, appointment reminders, etc.
Read Also – What is the Purpose of Medical App for Doctors
Payment Integration
An app related to online purchases can not be complete without payment integration. Since there is no need for delivery in medical apps, cash is certainly not an option. People use various online payment options such as MasterCard, Paytm, net banking, UPI, etc. To make it user-friendly, having a range of online payment options is vital.
There are multiple apps for doctors in India, giving patients a lot of options to choose from. Such an abundance of similar applications makes it important for app developers to ensure all the features are optimized.
