Relying on recent trends and my own observations, I believe that we are experiencing the aftertaste of digitalization: we are now turning back to reality, trying to minimize the time and energy we spend on social media and in front of a screen. Smartphone obsessive behaviour is perceived as rather negative and face-to-face contact is being sought after. Having been through the era of digital overdose, we now more than ever seem to crave a friendly smile and a heart-warming conversation. I had one of those last week in London when I met a freshly graduated product designer over a pint. We discussed his recent work on introducing sensors for monitoring the condition of people suffering from Parkinson’s. His designs of a watch that can real-time inform about the patient’s condition have inspired me to research into Digital Health technology and its spectrum of use, its positives and negatives, its availability and effect on health services.
I came across a few studies on Digital Health, in other words, the usage of digital and genetic discoveries in health and healthcare. It is broadly used to track one’s body activities by others or by themselves. Digital Health’s products are mainly adopted in treatment and monitoring of heart conditions, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, but more recently also by insurance companies for using the clients’ own data, medical education systems for interactive learning, and research projects.
Some of the essential elements of digital health monitoring are wireless devices (such as smartphones), software sensing technology, Internet connection, and personal genetic information.
The sensors, which can be deployed in smartphones, clothes or accessories like watches, or implanted, transmit real time information, even remotely, on our body performance and health, and provide data on heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, respiratory rate, and many more.
Even though this technology is not meant to replace the face-to-face contact with one’s personal doctor, it is proven to have improved the patient’s own access to their health data, by making it easy to understand and available on the screen of their device. Digital Health also gives the opportunity to relatives and doctors to obtain real time data on an individual’s overall health. Doing so it increases the quality of service and makes it more personalized and precise.
Furthermore, by having referrals and readmissions considerably decreased, Digital Health is estimated to potentially reduce the expenses of U.S. healthcare system by $46 billion for the following year. With 70% of U.S. hospitals currently providing these services and $1.5 trillion spent on wearable technologies and mobile apps, Digital Health is no longer considered an innovation. In fact, brands such as AliveCor and Cardiomo, producing exclusively technologies for heart monitoring, have already established their place in the Digital Health market, allowing one to either measure their own heart activities through an app and a sensor/wristband, or trust a doctor or a relative to do that for them via a sensor, attached to the chest, that transmits information to a chosen device.
However effective these products are, patients tend to consider self-monitoring a burden when it interferes with their daily activities. Surveys also show that they are sometimes unsure about the efficiency of Digital Health and do not show the same level of trust in technology as they would in their GP. Another problem in the case of predominantly elderly patients is their difficulty with processing the information delivered. This is completely understandable, having in mind that Digital Health technology has not been around for so many years.
And, although the health and care sector rapidly catches up with the other economic sectors of digitalization, the need for suitably skilled and qualified personnel increases.
Possible solutions include a better involvement of industry in the educational curriculum, an encouragement of integration of digital healthcare placements in education, and promoting Digital Health as a career opportunity.
Involving more graduates in healthcare and creating workplaces speaks well not only for the outcomes of the process, but also for its development. On that note, I have reconsidered my position towards digitalization and now I have a proof of it being not only efficient, but also helpful and in some cases even life-saving.
Image Sources: future-customer.com, mobihealthnews.com, Paul Sonnier, singularityhub.com, thechronicleindia.com, verdict.co.uk, wixstatic.com
Web Sources: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0898264316688791; http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/9/2822/htm; https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/5/e020843; https://cardiomo.com/; https://shop.gb.alivecor.com/; https://storyofdigitalhealth.com/definition/; https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk; https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DigitalHealth/default.htm; https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/wearables-and-people-with-disabilities/201987; https://www.researchgate.net/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956566316312295; https://www.valueinhealthjournal.com/article/S1098-3015(18)31039-8/abstract
Video Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a94b_q9UehE; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM4aep7VXb8; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDO_-W6P4JY