Healthcare CTOs Looking into Wearable Technology

The rise of wearable technology has prompted healthcare chief technology officers (CTOs) to study the feasibility of adopting this tech. Silicon reported that this comes with the increasing rate of people using personalized health monitoring.

CTOs are making these considerations in light of the wide range of physiological indicators included in wearable tech. These indicators include markers for health and wellbeing such as blood pressure and heart rate measurements. Many devices also include step counters and sleep quality gauges.

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The rate of personal usage of these devices has been significantly increasing. A study by Berg Insight revealed that 239 million units will be shipped by 2023. These units include fitness trackers and smartwatches.

However, Silicon noted that there will be other new features that offer personalized healthcare. Satellite navigation (satnav) and step-trackers will collect data, which in turn can be merged into treatments. In fact, a report by the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) cited an IBM Watson research saying that “the average person is likely to generate more than 1 million gigabytes of health-related data in their lifetime.”

Healthcare CTOs Wearable Technology

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These features are expected to improve treatment of amputee patients as it gathers data on physical activity, posture and movement.

Experts are optimistic that these devices will enable faster, more efficient and more comprehensive data collection, storage and analytics. According to Berg Insight, Built-in sensors streaming live will enable ‘remote’ clinicians’ to evaluate evaluation outcomes. These are also seen to “support physical therapy regimes and adjust prosthetics to suit changing needs.”

The so-called “digital connectivity” which will be opened by these more advanced versions of is expected to provide constant updates. Moreover, the study anticipates the use of remote treatment, especially with amputee patients. Procedures that would be made easier by this technology include the re-calibration of robotic leg microprocessors.

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Meanwhile, there are concerns about the safety of data that will be gathered by these devices. According to Silicon, “data that wearable technologies could collect about a patient is highly sensitive.” This is why manufacturers and developers must take extra measures to ensure information security, from storage to transmission.

Professionals anticipate the connectivity offered by wearables, especially as modern facilities are migrating from information system hosting to cloud storage. This is expected to provide a comprehensive range of info, which will be expanding as more data are uploaded. This can help doctors cross-reference data to ensure personalized and targeted treatments.

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