Recently, we've been working with several clients looking at the effectiveness of easily obtainable biosensors. You know the sort of thing: Fitbits, sports watches, Oximeters, smart weighing scales etc.
On the surface, they promised to be great little gadgets that can provide an amount of information that was helpful to your average sports enthusiast. However, in more recent years, the information these little devices can collect has grown to the point where they are almost a diagnostic tool chest and have become applicable to everyone.
Imagine for the moment if devices like this were worn by patients and the live data transmitted up to the cloud where they could then be analysed and displayed back to a suitable medical practitioner. Maybe, just maybe, your doctor could look at your physical activity, sleep patterns, weight, blood pressure, ECG, pulse, temperature, Atrial fibrillation etc. and call you before you need to call them.
But let’s not be fooled. These very inexpensive devices can only do so much, and the accuracy of the data must be questioned but, they do offer a longer-term, low cost and easy-to-collect range of data which will ultimately save lives and save money in the NHS.
Of course, it is still early days, and more development needs to be done but we might soon be able to avoid many routine appointments with our doctors and waiting in reception rooms surrounded by other sick people and instead do it all from the comfort and safety of our own homes.
One day, soon maybe, our doctors will become truly proactive rather than mainly reactive.
Managing Director
Paul is the founder and Managing Director of Optima Systems which he set up in 1990. His role today has changed considerably since those early days and now he spends much of his time on the road talking to new potential clients and spreading the word. Paul visits the USA on a regular basis as well as travelling around the UK particularly now that Optima has moved away from primarily financial software into the realms of clinical data and medical research. More about Paul.
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