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Could Custom Software Development Lead the Way to Improved Mental Health Care?

Could Custom Software Development Lead the Way to Improved Mental Health Care?

By Julie Short This blog was Posted on Thursday, September  27, 2018 6 YEARS AGO

Mental health is a hot topic in our society. While once considered a taboo subject, physicians, lawmakers, and even journalists are all stressing the fact that cognitive and emotional health are just as important as physical well-being.

As awareness around the various aspects of mental health has improved, so too have the capabilities of software developers serving hospitals and care facilities. Companies like ours are coming up with tailored applications that can help our clients provide a higher standard of care, streamline tasks like billing and scheduling, and even monitor patient beds, pharmaceutical inventory levels, and so much more.

More and more administrators are looking for custom software development that can help them work and compete in this growing field. Today, we want to point out some of the ways you can use software programming to improve your mental health care practice.

Identifying Mental Health Needs

Nearly any form of mental illness is easier to treat if it is diagnosed in the early stages. Unfortunately, most patients don’t seek help until their symptoms become severe enough to affect their lives in important ways. Additionally, primary care providers might not always connect physical symptoms to mental illness or may fail to report them consistently from one visit to the next. Each of these makes it less likely that a person suffering from a psychological disorder will get the care and assistance they need.

With the appropriate software solutions in place, however, physicians can use keywords, symptom searches, and notes from nurses, physician's assistants, and even primary care doctors to better assess the likelihood of mental illness. That means increased chances to catch problems before they've progressed to the point where they could be more difficult to treat. In that way, custom programming can lead to better outcomes for patients and mental health care providers alike.

Providing a Higher Standard of Care

Even when mental illnesses are properly detected and diagnosed, problems of data collection and aggregation may contribute to lapses and mistakes. For example, two physicians might observe similar symptoms and complaints, but if their reports are worded differently, there is a chance the correlation could be missed. Additionally, it can be difficult for those who suffer from mental disorders to properly self-report what they are feeling, or to ignore thoughts or symptoms that don’t seem to be connected to their mental illness.

By giving mental health care providers more in-depth tools and smarter record-keeping solutions, these kinds of errors and oversights can be made far less common. Additionally, they can take away the challenges that might exist when staff exhibit a bias against certain individuals and illnesses, or have trouble communicating with a patient who may speak a foreign language.

Maintaining a high and consistent level of care is always a priority in the world of mental health, and that mission is immeasurably simpler when you and your team have the right diagnostic and reporting tools to work with.

Reducing Delays in Treatment

Speed and efficiency are important aspects of caring for the mentally ill, particularly when an individual may be experiencing extreme stress, delusions, or even suicidal ideations. In those instances, having access to rapid answers for testing, reporting and diagnosis can literally save lives.

Custom apps can help mental health providers meet all of these challenges. With the right software qualified professionals can expedite evaluations so challenges can be assessed quickly. They can also use integrated tools to record observations or look into a patient’s medical history without delay. And of course, better data collection can make it easier to focus on a treatment plan that mitigates symptoms and reduces the danger to a patient, the staff members caring for them, and others in or around the facility.

Following the Latest Mental Health Care Standards

The science of medicine is constantly moving forward, particularly when it comes to the evolving field of mental health. It’s up to professionals to maintain a working knowledge of the latest studies and methods and to check up on patients who may experience intermittent issues or require follow-up observation.

Using the right software, a mental health facility can integrate things like ongoing training and document delivery for continued learning. These tools can make the otherwise-overwhelming task of researching pharmaceuticals or journal articles much simpler.

Additionally, physicians and staff can use custom apps to interact with those they care for even while they are away from the office or facility. For example, they could let patients or their caregivers submit regular assessments, assess themselves with cognitive tests, monitor side effects, and even rate their own progress while using specific medications and treatments.

Manage Prescriptions and Treatments

It can be difficult for mental health care providers to issue prescriptions and therapies while at the same time watching for harmful interactions and unwanted side effects. With the right custom maps in place, however, they can use updated software to double check for errors and inconsistencies.

This reduces the time burden placed on a physician or caregiver, of course, and leads to a higher standard of care while taking away obvious risks. This is especially pertinent in situations where a patient might have a need for multiple medications, some of which may be unrelated to the mental illness they are seeking treatment for.

In the same way, integrated software solutions can help with insurance, billing, and paperwork like discharge reports. In other words, you could get everything you need to run your practice more smoothly, deliver better care to the people you see, and maintain a healthier bottom line. Why not let technology take over some of the hard work that is needed in today’s mental health field?

Looking for Custom Mental Health Software Solutions?

At WebRevelation, we believe a piece of custom software is only as valuable as the outcomes it produces for our clients. With many years of experience in institutional programming – including medical services projects and HIPAA compliant applications – we know what it takes to find stable, efficient, and cost-effective solutions to the challenges you face.

WebRevelation can help you with your custom software development needs. Give us a call at 817-283-3324 today or complete a contact form and we will be happy to discuss and create a plan of action that's right for your business.





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