8 Features of a Successful Healthcare App

A discussion with any app or web development company will tell you how custom mobile app development in the domain of healthcare is now moving beyond medical consultation and medicine delivery. In hospitals and nursing homes, mobile app development has led to the introduction of patient management systems, virtual medical records, and much more.

However, working on the development of a healthcare app is far different than working on an Uber-like App with any offshore software development company. For a start, there is the necessity of expertise in the domain of medicine, which not all agencies can boast of. Alongside, the UX/UI patterns for any healthcare app will differ from that of your usual Uber-like apps.

The success of any healthcare app goes beyond the offshore software development company chosen to work with, the standard UX/UI patterns in play, or the process for custom mobile app development being followed, for unlike the other apps, the audience for a healthcare app is focused.

So, what are the 8 features that dictate the success of any healthcare app?

1. Tailoring: Any healthcare app must be tailored to the needs of the medical professionals for whom the app is being developed. It is important to note that different medical experts will have varying needs from an app, and therefore, the app must be able to inculcate those needs without any bugs. Avoiding any uniform design or structure is advisable.

2. Privacy: Clearly, your medical app, depending upon the services it offers, might require the user to input some private data. In such a scenario, the privacy of a user must be balanced with the requirements of your app in a manner that one doesn’t hinder the working of the other, else it might defeat the purpose of having a mobile app.

3. Process Building: Before you sit down with your local or offshore software development company to brainstorm around the app, visit a hospital or nursing home. This is because you must model the processes within your healthcare app on those followed in the physical world, as this is integral to the usability of the app.

4. Keep it Simple: While patients are too weak to waste their time on an app bugged with intricacies, doctors are too impatient to invest their time in one. That is why it is imperative to model your app operations on those followed in the hospitals, and more importantly, to keep it simple for the audience in question.

5. Test your App: The rise in automation has assisted app developers and custom mobile app development companies to employ innovative methods for testing an app. However, before any healthcare app is launched into the market, it is important for it to be validated for any bugs, for an app plagued with bugs will never be able to retain its users.

6. Information Input: As mentioned earlier, the audience for healthcare is focused, unlike other apps. Thus, if you are asking users to input some information while signing up for a consultation or availing any service, ensure that the information input process doesn’t become a hindrance to their usage by having only the necessary data fields, for a start.

7. Database Requirements: This aspect is more internal and has nothing to do with your audience, except securing their data. Given how innovations in the field of medicine are carried out each day, your app might have to inculcate additional information pertaining to the services offered in the app, and this is where the flexibility of your database will be indispensable.

8. Language: Medical terminology can be intimidating for some, and therefore, the UX/UI of your app must not be cluttered with terminology that is difficult to understand. In the recent past, many healthcare apps, even with their impeccable design, failed to register any success for the language they used acted as a constraint instead of a catalyst.

Working or hiring any app or web development company shouldn’t be based on pricing alone when it comes to developing a healthcare app, for pricing cannot compensate for experience. Thus, if you are looking to host a healthcare app that stands firm on various fronts, inculcating the above features is a good place to start.