FEATURE WEARABLES & M2M THE SMART DOCTOR
Karthik Ranjan, director of emerging technologies at ARMexplores the evolution of wearable medical devices and how the latest technology can be adapted to serve our aging population, using smart technology solutions
thousands of pounds. Devices such as the Sensoscan from Sensogram offer a small device, which is worn on the finger that can measure blood pressure, heart rate variance, blood oxygen and respiration with only a few seconds of a patient’s time. This data is then fed into clinical management systems which analyse the data in real time, alerting healthcare providers of any anomalies in patient conditions, allowing them to take a range of actions such as: Sending a message to the patient encouraging them to increase physical activity or reduce salt intake
G
lobal healthcare systems are under immense pressure in the face of our
aging population. Doctors, healthcare providers and governments are now looking to technology more than ever to provide an answer to these challenges, and with the smartphone so widely adopted, the industry is already well poised to utilise this platform, to offer new innovative patient services. The availability of ultra-low cost microcontroller development boards, highly accurate low-cost biometric sensors and affordable radios such as Bluetooth low energy technology has resulted in a surge of innovative medical and wellness wearables to complement the smartphone in personal healthcare monitoring.
THE FUTURE OF MEDICAL CARE On-demand remote medical care is posing an ideal solution. Medical services are now emerging where via an app on your phone, can give you direct access to a doctor within a few hours. Just answer a few questions about your symptoms. For example for diagnosing a sore throat just point your smartphone camera at the back of your throat for a visual observation. This could then receive an immediate diagnosis from a medical professional. If the symptoms are easily diagnosable, a prescription can then immediately be sent to a local 24-hour chemist. Notification could then arrive on your phone that your prescription is ready for collection. The accuracy of such a diagnosis and
prescribing antibiotics without examination or lab tests are at about 80 percent. However, if one can do an ear-nose-throat exam with an otoscope and a strep test, they can yield about 95 percent efficiency. Fortunately for us, rapid innovations such as the new otoscope
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accessory from Cupris, which can easily be added to a smartphone, is making it possible to get the same quality of diagnosis and care from a doctor without visiting them in person. Ailments such as sore throats, colds and fevers are common everyday occurrences with millions of patients frequently experiencing this type of symptom, burdening our healthcare systems worldwide. Within the next 10 years the combination of connected medical devices working in combination with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms on our smartphones will be able to accurately and clinically orchestrate the entire process of observation – analysis – diagnosis – prognosis and treatment. Imagine one day you’ll go through the
same process with an AI avatar that then sends your prescription to your pharmacy, who delivers that prescription to your front door within minutes using a drone!
THE RISE OF THE SENSOR Another new development that is occurring is the birth of multi-function medical sensors. These sensors help gather a greater number of biometrics within less time. One area of innovation is around chronic disease management. Today when diagnosed with hypertension or diabetes, patients are given medication and a course of action, for example increased exercise or reduced salt or sugar intake. However it can be unclear whether the
patient’s medication is working, or if they are following the behavioural change recommendations provided. Unfortunately for our medical system, this all too often results in a visit to the emergency room, costing tens of
Figure 1:
The concept of telemedicine is now becoming commercially viable with the rise of high bandwidth connectivity and smartphones
Sending a message to the patient’s caretaker or loved ones informing them of the situation and a recommendation
Sending a nurse or healthcare worker to the patient’s home for further analysis, investigation and patient advice For a health system which has to
manage thousands of chronically ill patients, such a system could result in substantial savings. In fact, Goldman Sachs predicts that combining telehealth, behavioural modifications and chronic disease management will result in savings of more than $305 billion to the industry overall. The concept of telemedicine has been around for over a hundred years since the advent of phones and television, it is only recently with the proliferation of high bandwidth connectivity and smartphones that such services have become commercially viable. One of the major drivers behind the commercial viability aspect is of course that the platform for communication (speaking with a doctor) and clinical observation (e.g. doctor looking at the back of the throat through a smartphone camera) has been commoditised through the smartphone. We are now starting to see the addition of biometrics such as heart rate also being added to smartphones and smartwatches, and this will evolve soon to include new biometrics like blood pressure sensors. Add to that the innovations in microfluidic analysis, and it’s only a matter of time before we reach a critical majority of lab and biometric analysis virtually “for free” on our smart devices.
ARM
www.arm.com T: 01223 400400
/ ELECTRONICS
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