Apps on iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac are capable of helping medical professionals deliver personalised care. Our powerful hardware is built to keep up with the demands of healthcare organisations, to make their processes faster and more efficient. And intuitive apps provide easy access to critical health information, so healthcare teams have all the resources they need to make the best decisions for their patients.
Deliver better care with powerful tools.
Apple products are designed to make healthcare more human. Our software is powerful and easy for both medical professionals and patients to use. We’ve built our devices to protect patient data and be accessible for everyone. And we’ve streamlined the ways health data is collected and devices are deployed.
An intuitive, familiar interface.
Our products are built on a platform people are already familiar with. Doctors can view important lab results on iPhone and iPad, and radiology images on powerful Mac computers. Nurses can send and receive secure communication, and ensure patient safety when administering medications. And with apps on iPhone and iPad, patients can learn more about their conditions or treatment.
Powerful and versatile hardware.
Healthcare providers can use Apple devices to do a variety of tasks anywhere in the hospital. The high-resolution Retina displays on iPhone and iPad, and the powerful processing of Mac allow doctors to view a patient’s imaging studies directly on their devices. The built-in iPhone and iPad cameras work with third-party apps to let nurses securely photograph a patient’s wound during treatment and store it in the patient’s record. And medical researchers can use the advanced sensors in iPhone and iPad to track movement, take measurements and record data for studies.
Safe and secure by design.
Secure software requires a foundation of security built into hardware. Face ID and Touch ID allow healthcare providers to use biometric authentication to instantly access iPhone, iPad and Mac. Healthcare app developers also have the ability to leverage biometric authentication for the apps they develop.
Our devices are designed to be used by everyone. Apple products come with powerful assistive features like Switch Control, which can help users operate their devices with minimal touch, and Live Listen, which lets users turn their iPhone or iPad into a remote microphone for their Made for iPhone hearing aids.
The Health app on iPhone and iPad makes it easy for people to track their health information in a central and secure place. Your patients can receive valuable insights into their health with advanced trend analysis for metrics like heart rate as well as access to standardised mental health assessments. They can also use HealthKit-enabled apps and third-party health accessories, like blood pressure cuffs, to contribute data to the Health app.
We’ve simplified the setup process so you can configure devices automatically, and buy and distribute apps seamlessly. With Apple Business Manager, you can enable zero-touch deployment, and remotely manage account settings, apps and configurations on every iPad, iPhone and Mac. So there’s no need for the IT department to physically access each device to complete setup.
Apple products and platforms are changing the ways care teams work together and connect with patients, and where they’re taking groundbreaking medical research.
UMC Utrecht is one of the largest university medical centres in the Netherlands. The public hospital treats some of the most complex cases in Holland, seeing more than 230,000 patients from across the country each year.
Healthcare workers at UMC Utrecht strive to give the best possible care to their patients. And they use Mac, iPhone and iPad to help enhance productivity so they can deliver on this promise at scale. They offer Mac to their clinicians as part of a device choice program, nurses receive an iPhone to support them through their day, and patients are given an iPad to access hospital services during their stay.
Clinicians are able to choose their devices, and 85 per cent choose Mac because of its intuitive operating system, built-in security features, outstanding performance, and compatibility with the software they use every day — including Microsoft 365. Mac is also lightweight and power-efficient, allowing physicians to access patient records all day on a single charge.*
UMC Utrecht’s Mac IT team of two can easily deploy and manage the entire fleet of 2,500 devices — saving time and money. Senior Engineer Henk Codfried says, “I love the security features which make it easy for us to manage all our devices centrally. We also have seen fewer support tickets overall with our Mac users.”
Apple devices have also transformed the patient experience and improved efficiency for care teams, so they can spend more time at the bedside. UMC Utrecht is one of the first hospitals in Europe to give nurses their own iPhone. With instant access to apps, nurses have up-to-date information on treatments and tools to connect with patients and care teams. And with ward patients receiving an iPad during their stay, they can order meals, watch their favourite shows, and even make informed choices about their medical care and procedures. Not only does this help patients feel more at ease, but it frees up nurses’ time so they can focus on other vital parts of their role.
* Battery life varies by use and configuration.
Discover how UMC Utrecht uses Mac, iPhone and iPad to transform healthcare for patients across the Netherlands.
See more Healthcare Success Stories.
Transforming care at BayCare.
iOS powers Stryker’s Vocera Edge app on iPhone to help keep team communications streamlined, private and secure.
How iPhone is transforming nursing care.
BayCare Health System, Florida, United States
For innovative healthcare, big things are happening in Florida. BayCare is a patient-centred, nonprofit healthcare system with 3,900 beds. It’s also a Cerner Reference Site and one of the largest employers in West Central Florida.
BayCare’s primary goal is to deliver compassionate care to the community they serve. What makes them unique is they are equally focused on caring for their employees — providing them with innovative, modern tools to do their jobs in fast-paced environments.
BayCare has deployed more than 6,000 iPhone devices to improve communications, simplify processes and update legacy systems — saving care teams valuable time that they can now spend on patient care. According to Scott Patterson, BayCare’s vice president and chief technology officer, “Our investment in Apple technology told our teams, ‘We care about you and will invest in the best tools to help you provide cutting-edge, compassionate patient care.’”
Before the switch to Apple, care teams were using pagers, cordless IP phones and fragmented legacy systems. BayCare chose to invest in iPhone for its operating system’s advanced privacy features and vast app ecosystem, which quickly turns iPhone into any instrument that doctors, nurses and ancillary services need it to be — a barcode scanner, a secure messaging app, a calculator and so much more.
The integration into BayCare’s existing software and Cisco network with Fastlane, which minimises congestion and prioritises clinically critical apps on the same network, was seamless — the results have been incredible. With a wholly revamped communications system based on Stryker’s Vocera Edge app on iPhone, team communications are unified, modernised and private. Use of encrypted role-based messaging alone grew from 1 million to 36 million per year — saving valuable time over voice calls. And more precise communications combat notification fatigue.
Everyone can see team assignments per patient along with each team member’s status, making it easy to quickly find who’s available. And there’s no need to solely rely on a workstation on wheels. Workflow tasks, digital alerts, reminders and patient data are now easily accessible on iPhone, so nurses can update conditions, see lab results and record observations — at the bedside, or wherever they may be.
“We now have more time to spend caring for patients,” says Nicole Gitney, director of nursing informatics. “Apple technology has helped us to adopt additional care workflows, such as nurse leader rounding and virtual care.”
Offering more flexibility and reducing the burden on nurses and staff is important to BayCare. They hold forums with teams to get new ideas and feedback on their needs that technology can help solve. “The move to iPhone has increased efficiency, productivity and employee satisfaction,” says Nicole. “From easy onboarding and training to more secure, smart, streamlined communication.”
The App Store features over 40,000 apps that are changing the world of healthcare for providers, patients and researchers. Healthcare professionals can provide faster, more personalised care in the hospital with apps focusing on clinical care, nursing care and the patient experience. ResearchKit‑enabled apps make it easier for clinical researchers to gather robust and meaningful data from larger, more varied populations. HealthKit‑enabled apps can help patients manage their health. And older adults can access apps to help them stay connected, healthy and safe from home.
Look up drug prescription and safety information, check for potentially harmful medicine interactions, and access timely medical news and research information.
Authorised clinicians can securely access clinic schedules, hospital patient lists and test results on iPhone. Real-time updates and notifications can be displayed on Apple Watch and iPhone.
Nurses can follow medication administration requirements, send and receive secure text messages, place voice calls, manage alerts and access real-time patient information all in one place.
Epic Rover provides nurses secure access to care and communication tools. Nurses can administer medications, document patient progress, manage alerts, and communicate with secure messaging, voice and video.
Patients in the hospital can track their progress, view their daily schedules, access educational materials and see the names, faces and roles of their care team.
MyChart integrates with the Apple Health app to send patient-generated data to the Epic EMR, with the user’s permission. Care teams can use this data to monitor the patient remotely and proactively intervene when necessary. Patients can schedule appointments and message their care team securely.
Corrie Health
Corrie Health gives patients greater control after a heart attack and helps reduce readmission rates. The app integrates with Apple Watch, allowing for continuous data collection so that clinicians can have better insight into their patients’ health status and recovery.
The University of California, San Francisco in the US is working to help solve the world’s biggest health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental illness, healthcare inequities and more. The Eureka app makes it easy for people to contribute to advancements in science by taking part in revolutionary research studies.
Researchers designed the Resilient Minds app to learn how changes in psychological resilience and cognitive function are related to physical wellbeing. The app integrates with the Health app to request access to physiological and environmental information collected by iPhone and Apple Watch.
Apple Vision Pro in healthcare.
Apple Vision Pro seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, transforming the way you learn and practise medicine.
Apple Vision Pro creates an infinite canvas for apps that scale beyond the boundaries of traditional medical displays, to enhance everyday work and bring new ways to collaborate. Clinicians can use medical imaging apps and work across specialties to make tumour board reviews more productive.
Surgical planning and training.
Surgeons can now use Apple Vision Pro to plan and visualise procedures in immersive 3D settings to help achieve the best patient outcomes anytime and anywhere. And healthcare professionals can get hands-on training and education that bring real-world scenarios to life, equipping them with invaluable practical experience.
Behavioural health and wellness.
Mental health and wellbeing are fundamental to overall health. Apple Vision Pro lets users experience personalised therapy in a safe, private virtual space. And it can turn their surroundings into a relaxing environment for a fully immersive guided meditation session.
Volume purchasing.
Find, buy and distribute apps and books for everyone in your healthcare organisation.
You can work with developers to get existing apps customised for your specific needs. They are distributed to your healthcare organisation privately through Apple Business Manager.
Build apps for better healthcare.
Create customised apps that tap into Apple hardware and features. Use powerful developer tools like Swift and our open source frameworks ResearchKit and CareKit.
Apple provides everything you need to develop apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It comes with tools and resources that help you take advantage of features like Core Location to conduct research on the effect of location and air quality on asthma, and tap into services like push notifications to alert doctors and nurses of patient updates. With the iOS and iPadOS SDK, you can customise apps to streamline hospital operations and help your staff work more efficiently.
Swift is a free and open-source programming language that makes code easier to read and write, while giving developers the efficiency and power they need. Developers can use it to create richer, more reliable app experiences that improve patient care.
CareKit is an open source framework that can be used to create personal care apps. Patients can use CareKit apps to manage their medical conditions and share information directly with their doctors and care teams.
ResearchKit makes it easier for researchers to conduct medical studies. The open source framework allows researchers to quickly build apps that utilise the advanced sensors in iPhone and Apple Watch. Participants around the world can use the apps to generate data for researchers to study. So far, ResearchKit has been used to study conditions like Parkinson’s disease, autism, epilepsy, diabetes and more.