DS-SEP23-PG22+23_Layout 1 15/09/2023 09:43 Page 1
FEATURE
SENSORS & SENSING SYSTEMS
paTienTs wiTh medical sensing Technology
Taking care of Giuseppe Olivadoti, marketing and applications director
(Digital Healthcare), Analog Devices, examines how advances in sensor and digital technology can yield better patient care
I
n the conventional model of medical treatment, a patient visited the hospital when symptoms became apparent, or for a routine annual
checkup, and was subjected to a one-time set of tests that would often be sent away for laboratory analysis before diagnosis or a health assessment was made. In many cases, this diagnosis would come long after the original consultation, and based on this single snapshot of the patient’s condition. This approach to treatment made sense
when the sophisticated equipment required to monitor vital signs and symptoms was scarce and only available in hospitals or other dedicated medical facilities. However, large-scale transformation in the way
healthcare is delivered was already under way before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, put new impetus into medical innovation. Prior to the 2020 pandemic, aging populations in developed nations, the near-universal availability of mobile broadband connectivity, and the development of sophisticated sensing technologies, were propelling the adoption of more personalised, digital or remote methods of monitoring and diagnosing patients. As the coronavirus pandemic increased
pressure on limited hospital facilities, medical service providers were accelerating the implementation of new technologies for testing and monitoring outside the hospital. For instance, innovations in sensors now
enable vital signs to be measured with clinical- grade accuracy at home, and specimens tested at the point of care, eliminating the need to send samples for processing at a remote laboratory and producing quicker results for faster diagnosis.
a new approach
A new approach using portable or wearable monitoring devices and point-of-care medical equipment therefore promises to improve patient outcomes and reduce pressure on public healthcare facilities. The development of new medical sensing
2
technology has created the conditions for a radically different conception of medical treatment. Instead of the large, fixed medical monitoring equipment used in hospitals, the new approach to patient monitoring uses devices that: • Are small or even wearable • Consume little power, so they can operate from a battery
• Provide accurate, clinical-grade measurements Medical monitoring and testing can therefore
be taken out of the hospital and performed in local facilities such as GP practices or in a patient’s home. For even greater convenience for the patient, wearable devices such as patches can operate continuously and discreetly to enable 24/7 monitoring anywhere.
moniToring in real life
The motivation to implement new remote monitoring technologies is partly due to resource scarcity. The pressure on hospitals when COVID-19 infections peaked in 2020 proved that healthcare systems can quickly be overwhelmed by a rise in demand for acute care services. So, it is a sensible long-term strategy to relocate patients who require monitoring of vital signs from a hospital bed to a clinic or to their own home. But, just as importantly, monitoring with a
portable or wearable device can provide more useful data and produce better patient outcomes. New medical monitoring technology allows for extended tracking of vital signs such as heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen
saturation (SpO2), and temperature. Through continuous monitoring, trends and patterns can be uncovered that cannot be detected in the single snapshot that a practitioner can capture in one appointment with a patient. The development in parallel of artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic technology means that monitoring the stream of data can be automated. Instead of swamping the patient’s physician
with data, this AI-based approach uses technology to monitor the patterns in vital signs in the background, and only raise a flag when personal
2 DESIGN SOLUTIONS SEPTEMBER 2023
intervention by a doctor is required. By detecting precursor signals that indicate future morbidity, the patient and medical practitioner can work together on changes to medication, lifestyle or diet to prevent the onset of conditions that previously would have ended up in a visit to a hospital’s acute care ward. In addition, monitoring at home or at a
point-of-care facility reveals information about the state of the patient’s health in real life, not in the artificial – and often stressful – setting of a hospital ward. The latest multi-parameter wearable sensors can combine vital signs with measurement of other indicators such as motion and sleep to put the medical data in the context of the patient’s lifestyle.
semiconducTor Technology
The introduction of this new mode of patient monitoring is the result of a series of developments in semiconductor technology and computer science in the 21st century. In the field of optoelectronics, optical sensor
solutions have been developed that can perform photoplethysmography (PPG), which leverage non-invasive optical methods to calculate the
heart rate, respiration rate, and SpO2. Miniature MEMS motion sensors likewise can measure
The VSM study watch development platform created by Analog Devices
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126
