The Practicality of Mobile Applications in Healthcare Administration and COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) aid healthcare administration through monitoring health issues and virtually achieving personal well-being goals. There are numerous mHealth apps available; however, their usefulness is unclear. Furthermore, older age groups may be unfamiliar with mHealth apps. Therefore, the purpose of this literature review is to provide an overview of the practicality of mHealth apps in healthcare administration. mHealth apps carry important roles for non-communicable and infectious diseases, primarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, people with different backgrounds or ages need to understand to utilise mHealth apps, particularly the ‘MySejahtera’ app. Thus, the classifications, functions, advantages, and disadvantages of mHealth apps are addressed. The information was obtained from a variety of electronic databases, including PUBMED, Google Scholar, UpToDate, and web sources. Several journals, books, articles, and reports were retrieved and analysed based on their relevance from May 2011 to November 2020. Non-communicable diseases, particularly chronic diseases, can be assisted by mHealth as the unique interaction via mHealth apps assist patients in executing optimistic behaviours towards a healthy lifestyle. In the case of COVID-19, this review emphasises the importance of the ‘MySejahtera’ app, which is actively being used in Malaysia to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. This article also discusses mHealth apps’ effectiveness and how Malaysians used the ‘MySejahtera’ app during the COVID-19 pandemic. More secure apps, comparable to the ‘MySejahtera’ app are required to manage infectious diseases like COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes mellitus since the number of mobile app users will continue to grow worldwide.