Wearables: The Possibilities and Potential Pitfalls

From Apple watches to the Fitbit, wearables — electronic devices that are worn on the body — have become a popular way for people to track their daily step count, heart rate, workouts, and even sleep patterns. Additionally, some of these devices are capable of reading notifications, texting, making phone calls, and more. Wearables are extremely popular and are of particular usefulness for monitoring chronic health conditions. Medical wearables not only allow patients to monitor their health and vital signs, but wearable technology in the healthcare arena also offers a variety of benefits as well as some concerns.

Some wearable technology healthcare applications are designed for the prevention of diseases and health maintenance, such as weight control and exercise monitoring, while others are used for patient and disease management. These devices can directly impact clinical decision-making. Many healthcare providers believe that wearables can improve the quality of patient care, while reducing its cost, such as patient rehabilitation outside of hospitals.

While carrying a smartphone in your pocket allows you to track your step count and exercise minutes, wearable devices that are worn on the wrist are not only extremely convenient and more portable for activities like running, hiking, and biking — but because the wrist has a plethora of veins and arteries along with thinner skin — these wearables can easily measure pulse and detect blood pressure. And since the arm moves more than some other parts of the body, wearables on the wrist are better able to track motion.

As Robert Havasy, senior director of connected health at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), put it in a blog post on that organization’s website: “There is a reason that watches have been utilized for a couple of centuries — the wrist is a convenient place to display vital information.” Clinicians are finding that wearable technology in healthcare offers the most benefits when applied to healthy lifestyle decisions to prevent disease.

“A nurse or doctor can tell a patient they need to eat better and exercise at their annual wellness visit,” Havasy added, “but they cannot follow patients around the other 364 days of the year.”

Remote care, which has played a critical role during the coronavirus pandemic, is expected to continue to be a powerful tool for both healthcare providers and patients in conjunction with wearables. As Ramsés Gallego, international CTO of the software company CyberRes, told HealthTech Magazine: “Wearables offer a way to go beyond the typical metrics by providing detailed medical information. …In a post-pandemic world, this is critical — these devices could save lives.”

In addition to wearables worn on the wrist, devices can be attached to shoes, clothing, eyeglasses, and gloves, and sensors can be embedded into chairs, mattresses, and car seats. The Allure Group, which is based in New York and operates six skilled nursing facilities across Manhattan and Brooklyn, relies on Vis-a-Vis technology to monitor patients after they are discharged. A hand-held device allows for communication between patients and healthcare professionals, and enables vital signs to be tracked.

Despite the significant benefits of wearables in healthcare, there can be some downsides to using them. Some risks associated with wearable devices are:

• Security and privacy. Because wearables continuously collect information and store, transfer, and handle it at multiple points, there are concerns about cyber risks and protection. Digitally shared data can potentially be shared with third parties and used for marketing purposes or with healthcare insurance providers. Insurance companies may then use the information for health policies and premiums based on a user’s behavior, activity, and pre-existing medical conditions. There is always the possibility of data usage for criminal purposes.
• Technical concerns. Many wearables have low battery life and limited battery space, so they are unable to operate for long periods of time, ultimately affecting data collection. Size, GPS support, software compatibility with other devices, manipulation of data, and lack of encryption are some technical issues associated with wearables.
• Regulatory issues. Globally, countries follow different rules and regulations around data collection, and these policies may create an imbalance in wearable device operation and data flow.
• Affordability. Individuals in low-income groups or rural and remote locations are often unable to afford wearables; this is referred to as the digital divide. Lack of internet access and device connectivity are other factors associated with the lower adaptability of wearable devices.
• Technology errors. Data collected by wearables may be unreliable or inaccurate because the information can vary greatly depending on where the divide is worn. This unreliable data is unacceptable for direct care or diagnosis of symptoms.
• Potential health risks. Some experts claim that wearable devices are associated with health concerns such as cancer due to the radiation they emit as a result of direct contact with the skin or proximity to vital organs for long periods of time. While there is no definitive scientific study, some believe that wearable wireless devices can cause adverse health effects.

Wearables will continue to gain traction because of their overall affordability, applications, functionality, and growing awareness about health and well-being as well as an increasing number of smart devices, better connectivity via the IoT (the Internet of Things), advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), and increasing interest of tech companies toward wearables, especially in the healthcare marketplace.

Subscribe to DDIntel Here.

Visit our website here: https://www.datadriveninvestor.com

Join our network here: https://datadriveninvestor.com/collaborate