For decades, the medical industry has been focused on curing diseases as they appeared. Doctors specialized in identifying diseases with the symptoms that they produce. The problem with this method is that these symptoms get worse as the disease becomes more difficult to treat. Even more problematic is that some sudden health issues like heart attacks do not have clear early symptoms. IOT and MedTech combined can solve this issue.
Unlike the traditional paradigm, these new technologies attempt to predict diseases. Nowadays devices like the newly announced Apple watch collect tons of data. Data about heart rate, blood pressure, activity and the caloric intake. The watch also got FDA clearance for detecting atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rate rhythm) (Goode, 2018). In the future doctors could alert patients of possible health issues before they even realize they need a doctor. The believe in this technology is so strong that the working group setup by the Indian Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has even recommended that insurance companies make use of fitness trackers for their insurance policies. (NextBigWhat, 2018)
When people do get ill, technology can also help. Thirdeye, developed AR glasses that can do the remembering for Alzheimer patients. It recognizes family members and visually displays information about them for the patient. The AR technology is also useful for surgeons as it can provide accurate overlays during critical surgeries. (Condliffe, 2017)
A large benefit of this new technology focused approach is that it shaves costs. The economic advantage that this creates is a large reason why development is so rapid. Both humans and business benefit. These facts combined bring me to conclude that the evolution of the medical industry as presented in the title is very close. How close? That should be for us to experience.
Condliffe, J. (2017, May 11). Would you want your surgeon to wear a HoloLens before they cut you open? Retrieved from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607852/ar-is-making-its-way-into-the-or/
Goode, L. (2018, September 13). Apple Watch’s Update Adds Heart-Monitoring Capabilities. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/apple-watch-series-4/
NextBigWhat From the editorial team of NextBigWhat. (2018, August 04). Lesser premiums for better health: IRDA proposes tracking fitness data by wearables. Retrieved from https://www.nextbigwhat.com/irda-fitness-data-wearable-297/
image from: http://blog.alphavalue.com/stocks-to-watch/medtech-surge/
