IOT
“ Driven by smartwatch adoption , consumers and patients have become used to using devices to collect , transmit , and interpret health data ”
KRISTEN HANICH PARKS ASSOCIATES
Swallowable pills and Covidtracking smartwatches The future may see patients using new devices to track chronic and complex diseases , says Infosys ’ Ananth . Ingestible sensors – in the form of swallowable pills – smart inhalers for asthma , and Bluetooth coagulation testing devices will be among the new range of products used by patients for disease management and recovery . Existing devices may be given new roles , such as smartwatches used to help detect and track Covid .
“ For inpatient care , hospitals might use smart beds , which can sense the presence of a patient and automatically adjust to the correct angle to provide proper support without the need for a nurse to intervene ,” says Ananth . “ We also expect to see healthcare devices becoming more connected . With the advent of Electronic Health Records ( EHRs ), medical data retrieved from patient devices will be captured into the patient ’ s EHR directly for accurate diagnosis .”
More people are using wearable devices in the workplace , which , in many cases , includes their homes , he says – a trend driven partly by the shift to remote work and an increasing interest in health monitoring .
The dogbot will see you now
Healthcare tech is also being used in triage centres and hospital rooms for those who need more support than can be offered by smart wearables .
In 2020 , researchers from MIT , Boston Dynamics , and Brigham and Women ’ s Hospital used robots to remotely measure patients ’ vital signs and cut the risk of spreading Covid .
Using four cameras mounted on a dog-like robot developed by Boston Dynamics , the researchers demonstrated they could measure skin temperature , breathing rate , pulse rate , and blood oxygen saturation in healthy patients , from a distance of two metres .
100 December 2022