How Wearable Technology is Transforming Healthcare
The health sector keeps experiencing great advancement in its operations. The emergence of wearable devices for navigation and communication gives patients the power to do more. It gives the ability to collect and report health data in digital forms. People use these wearable devices to monitor the functioning of their vitals effectively. The beauty of this is the reduction of visits to health professionals.
The popularity of Wearable healthcare technology is widespread owing to its flexibility and ease of use. Aside from the health sector, other industries find the technology helpful to their operations. For example, insurance companies rely on technology to provide data from monitoring devices. It provides more accurate health plans that inform the advice to give clients. Other sectors encourage the adoption of wearable technology among employees. The idea is to foster healthy habits and lifestyles.
Wearable Technology
Wearable technology in healthcare is the medical devices, and supportive accessories patients attach to their bodies for health reasons. They collect fitness and health data for presentation to medical practitioners. These data hasten the examination and treatment processes and help give accurate diagnoses.
Medical wearables use actuators, sensors, software, and electronic patches attached to the body to identify anomalies, monitor patients' health, and provide health treatments. These devices include biosensors: blood pressure monitors, wearable pain relief devices, fitness trackers, smartwatch glucose monitors, and more.
Healthcare Wearables – The Regulatory Perspective
The breakthrough of wearable medical devices for treatment and healthcare services has resulted in regulatory approvals by the FDA. In a General Wellness: Policy for Low-Risk Devices, the body stipulates that wearable technology includes an array of consumer-oriented wearables device accessories intended to support, supplement, and augment the performance of one or more parent devices.
However, the FDA has concerns about the potential problems caused to consumers rather than the security of these wearable devices. From a medical viewpoint, wearable technology offers promising transformative benefits for the healthcare industry. There's hope that the product developers, regulators, and healthcare service providers, will all be on the same page and embrace the potential of wearable technology. Ultimately, the goal is to improve the conveyance of care to patients.
How to Use Wearable Technology for Better Health
The use of wearable technology for health works by personalizing one's health care with technology. In addition, it improves the quality and safety of treatment.
There are devices for tracking sleep patterns, heartbeat rates, blood glucose, and more.
People attach wearable technology devices to their skins for health improvement. For instance,
Smart clothes with inbuilt technology perform a lot of functions. It provides means for listening to messages or music through clothing items. Smart clothes can track heart rate, count your steps and give information about healthy activities.
Smart shoes help to analyze running/walking styles, balance, and measure strain.
Wearable Smartwatches get worn on the wrist like a traditional watch. They function as an extension of a smartphone. Wearable smartwatches monitor steps taken, calories burned, and heart rate. They also provide functionalities for reading emails, answering calls, and listening to music.
Fitness trackers get worn on the wrist. They help with step counting, measuring distance traveled, heart rate monitoring, and calorie counting.
Head-mounted displays are wearable tech worn on the head. They include items like glasses and goggles. The idea behind this device is to help people to see things in their peripheral vision easier. There are also Smart, hard hats for construction workers to improve safety.
Smart Jewellery such as bracelets, necklaces, and rings help to monitor steps and heart rates. People who prefer to track their activities without wearing sporty devices go for these types of wearable technology.
Some wearable medical devices are linked with fitness apps and accessed by mobile phones and other devices.
Benefits of Wearable Technology
The use of wearable technology for better health and fitness comes with several benefits. Here are some of the benefits
Encourages Proactive Healthcare
Wearable technology offers a more proactive approach to healthcare. People tend to rush to health practitioners at the feeling of pain, sickness, or anything beyond normal. Wearable technology reduces these reactive habits. It helps people to take action early rather than react fearfully.
Wearable technology devices help patients with health issues detect abnormalities early. One reason for this is that irregularities get detected after tracking their health. For this reason, getting quick treatment becomes a possibility.
In emergencies, the system notifies others like family members or healthcare professionals who respond promptly to these emergencies.
Here are some other benefits and proactive activities wearable technology helps to achieve.
Wearable technology helps to monitor heart rate and step count during walking or exercise
Wearable technology improves communication between users and health practitioners
Wearable technology helps to stay fit by connecting them online and in person
It guarantees better sleeping habits
It increases the awareness of physical and mental health
Wearable technology reduces stress levels
It improves physical activity by helping people to stay motivated and engaged.
Wearable technology is great for older people
Wearable technology increases productivity
It motivates people to exercise.
It makes people more conscious of their health.
Supports Healthcare Providers and other Businesses
Wearable technology benefits healthcare providers by helping monitor patient data over a period. It also helps medical professionals to understand better the issues affecting their patients. With the data, they make a more accurate diagnosis for better service delivery.
In addition, insurance companies help their clients make better decisions about the type of policies to buy. For example, these companies now suggest reducing premiums by encouraging clients to use wearables.
Conclusion
Wearable technology is an industry with great potential for innovation in the health sector. Its rapid growth is a welcome development for all parties.
The influx of innovation into the industry promises great future benefits for these devices to users and the healthcare sector.
However, wearables are relatively expensive right now. Users hope that the continuous increase and more competition will drive the cost to an affordable level for everyone. With the cost reduction, highly powerful wearable devices will appear.