Doctor and Patient Always Connected via Smartphone and iPad

Merck and DS Group asked the Politecnico di Milano to develop an important project in the Mobile sector, i.e. the development of a smartphone- and iPad-based platform to keep doctors and patients constantly updated. The ambitious aim of the project is to reduce the effects of the frequently occurring delayed communication between doctor and patient.

DS Group, a company specialised in the development of business applications on mobile devices, and Merck, one of the most important multi-national companies in the chemical-pharmaceutical sector, selected the Politecnico di Milano as scientific partner for the analysis and development of new business and social opportunities in the relationship between patient and doctor (or pharmacist) thanks to new mobile devices (smartphone and iPad). More in detail, the aim of the agreement is to identify and design a solution that enables patients and their doctor (e.g. GP, consultant, pharmacist) to have a constant "relationship" channel using, on the one hand, what is currently the most commonly used communication device (mobile phone) that patients always have with them and, on the other, the new frontier of portable devices e.g. PC tablets, Apple's iPad above all.

 "Market analysis will be combined with a study on the most innovative environments for multi-platform software development, with the aim of understanding the opportunities they offer and so optimise times and costs for the company, as well of offering citizens a better service of course," explained Edoardo Vannutelli Depoli, the Project's Technical Manager. "It will be followed by the identification of the application to develop and the design and development of the actual solution."

With this project, DS Group and Merck rely on the technological and marketing skills available in the Cremona Campus of the Politecnico di Milano to remain on the cutting edge of the opportunities offered by new technologies. Smartphones and iPads are today highly innovative and widespread tools that can be used for tests on development environments that will play a crucial role for consumers and businesses in the next few years.  

"According to several analysts, by 2014 there will be more people accessing the Internet from mobile phones/smartphones than from PCs," declared Filippo Renga, the Project Manager. "Companies can no longer sit back and look - they must act to understand how to make the best of the opportunities provided by the current Mobile revolution. In many cases users are already far more multi-channel than most companies."