New Recording 5

Wearable health technology is revolutionizing healthcare by collecting important health data and enhancing patient care. It is being used for early cancer detection, remote clinical trial monitoring, and personalized treatment plans. Wearable devices range from fitness trackers to specialized devices for specific health conditions. The combination of advanced systems and data analytics, including artificial intelligence, allows for predictive and personalized healthcare. Challenges include user acceptance, security, ethics, and data integrity. The future of wearable technology includes telemedicine, real-time interventions, and improved quality of life. Interoperability and cybersecurity are essential for seamless information flow and protection of patient data. Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Health Talk. I'm your host Vanna and today we will be diving into the world of wearable health technology and how it is reshaping our healthcare systems. For those of you who have never heard of wearable health technology, it is a health monitoring device that is worn on your body that uses biosensors to collect important health data such as blood pressure and heart rate. Join us as we uncover the dynamic landscape of wearable health technology examining its potential to enhance patient care, empower individuals in their health journey, and drive meaningful advancements in preventative and diagnostic health care. We have three very special guest speakers joining us today. First we have Maneli who will discuss a little bit about the application systems and their significance in health information management. Then we have Nelly who will be discussing clinical operations. Next we have Audrina who is a legal and compliance expert that will discuss how to discuss the legal requirements. Then you have me who will discuss the real-world applications and emphasize the impact on healthcare operations. Lastly we have a QA session so stay tuned. And now I'm going to pass the mic to Maneli who will be talking about the revolution of wearable health technology. Thank you Vanna. So now I'm going to go over the revolution of wearable health technology. Today's episode is going to be truly interesting. At a time when technology is rapidly advancing, wearable health technology is one era that is attracting a lot of interest. These are not just devices, these are tiny miracles skillfully woven with cutting-edge science. In the next five minutes I will explore the depth and breadth of these devices and consider how they're not only enhancing but also changing the very foundation of current healthcare. The broad adoption of wearable technology in our daily lives extends behind its basic uses such as tracking our sleep patterns and measuring our steps. It's becoming more and more important as a tool for changing the healthcare system. During the past two decades the era of digitalization in pharmaceutical device manufacturing has gained significant momentum for maintaining human health. Their powers have increased rapidly and they are no longer restricted to merely passive observation. For example, smart wearable gadgets are currently supporting cancer diagnosis early detection techniques, providing prompt interventions that can drastically impact treatment outcomes. Also these devices have helped now where remote clinical trial monitoring is possible, making real-time data collection and patient monitoring more effective. This develops the adaptability and responsiveness of clinical trials, consequently advancing the rate of progress in medical research and innovation. These advancements underscore the transformative influence and possibilities of wearable technology in modern healthcare. In recent years wearable health technology has seen a revert behind the basic features of tracking sleep or counting steps. It now does much more. This is a wide variety of these devices available these days. At one end we have fitness trackers that continuously monitor vital statistics such as heart rate, oxygen levels, and calorie expending. These devices offer insights that can motivate an individual to adopt a healthier lifestyle. On the more specialized end we see devices designed for specific health conditions. Devices that monitor insulin levels or even those that can detect seizures in epileptic patients are becoming increasingly prevalent. An article by Tucker from 2022 offers a comprehensive study mapping out the many applications of these variables in healthcare. Their findings suggest an expansive role for these devices. For example, variables that focus on cardiovascular health can detect glitches like atrial fibrillation, which means irregular and often very rapid heart rate, while others help in physical rehabilitation by ensuring exercises are done correctly and effectively. These devices are not fleeting tech trends. They represent a model shift in proactive health management. The value and applications of variable technology in healthcare are set to expand to new heights as long as technology keeps progressing. Now when we discuss variables, the advancements in this domain are amazing. Atne, Shea, Miracle, and Adobe in their article from 2023 highlight how variable technology has been advancing in the healthcare field. Innovations range from smart watches that can detect atrial fibrillation, which was the irregular and often very rapid heart rate, to specialized variables capable of monitoring glucose levels in real time of diabetics, eliminating the need for routine finger pricks. But it's not just about the hardware. The real magic lies in the combination of advanced systems and data analytics. Wang and Su's work in 2023 underscores this idea. By integrating AI, which means artificial intelligence, with variable IOT systems, especially in long-term care environments, healthcare practitioners can predict, prevent, and personalize treatment like never before. So imagine a world where potential health risks are detected and addressed before they even manifest into noticeable symptoms. That's the power and promise of AI-integrated variables. But what lies ahead? Where is all this leading us? Sharma in 2022 offers a comprehensive outlook on the advancements and future prospects of variable sensing technology. They project a future where variables become an essential part of telemedicine, where continuous health monitoring provides a lot of data, helping professionals in proactive healthcare delivery. We're looking at a future where variables might not just monitor, but also offer real-time interventions, potentially saving lives. In wrapping up, it's clear that the horizon of variable health technology is expanding at a unique rate. Combining state-of-the-art technology with healthcare promises moves toward personalized preventive medicine in addition to improved quality of life. Now I'm going to pass the mic to Nelly. She's going to go over how variable technology impacts clinical operation. So let's just jump right into it. Clinical effectiveness of wearable technology. As healthcare continues to evolve, these innovative devices are making a significant impact on patient management, disease management, and clinical decision-making. Wearable technology is indeed on the rise, but it's not without its challenges. User acceptance, security, ethics, and concerns related to big data are some of the issues we must address. These concerns, as highlighted by Ming Wu's article on wearable technology applications in healthcare, are vital to ensure the successful integration of these devices into clinical practice. One key aspect of wearable technology in healthcare is its potential to improve the quality of patient care while reducing costs, especially in patient rehabilitation outside of the hospital setting. By allowing continuous monitoring, these devices can help in early intervention and support for patients. Wu also mentioned that some wearable devices are being designed by healthcare professionals to monitor walking patterns and provide valuable clinical information, including photo and video data. These devices are not just for tracking steps. They have the potential to review generalize the way we gather and analyze clinical data. Now let's just talk about the connection between wearable technology and clinical decision-making. In a journal from the National Library of Medicine, it's noted that wearable technology has the potential to dramatically change healthcare and drug development by collecting, processing, and visualizing health data. These data can directly impact clinical decisions, allowing for more personalized and effective treatment plans. But it's not all smooth sailing. A current workflow between wearable health technology and electronic health record faces challenges due to compatibility issues, slowing down the process towards continuous patient care. To provide patient care, to improve patient care, all systems must work toward interoperability to seamlessly flow of information. Wearable technology encompasses a wide range of devices, from accessories to implants and even electronic tattoos. These hands-free devices, powered by microprocessors and internet connectivity, enhance data transmission, making healthcare more accessible and efficient. We're even seeing the development of smart tattoos with electric sensors to monitor various health parameters, from heart and brain activity to sleeping disorders. These innovations, like chiral data health breast cancer detector patches, offer a new level of convenience and early detection for patients with a family history of breast cancer. Now let's dive into one of the most critical issues in healthcare technology, data integrity. Incorrect data can lead to inadequate treatment, data theft, misconduct, and even scams. Ensuring data integrity is essential to provide consistent and reliable information when treating patients and for preventing medicine. Cybersecurity is of paramount importance in the healthcare sector, as remote patients monitoring and wearable devices become more common. Protecting sensitive patient data is critical. Encryption and secure transmission protocols are becoming more sophisticated, keeping patient information safe and unauthorized users at bay. When it comes to wearable devices, they must be configured for their specific application, which can be quite challenging. Non-functioners need to consider the unique requirements for each medical device to ensure they function seamlessly in clinical settings. Methods like remote wiping, password protection, and regular encryption updates help protect sensitive patient information in case of physical theft or loss of wearable devices. These security measures are critical to safeguard patient data. But it's not just about data security. Wearable technology is also about enhancing patient care. These devices transmit real-time data to healthcare professionals, enabling personalized medicine tailored to each patient's specific needs, moving away from the one-size-fits-all approach. In a world where continuous patient monitoring is the new norm, there's a need for systems that can integrate across different healthcare organizations. This might require changes in legal practices to facilitate data sharing and provide a holistic view of patient's health. The benefits of integrating wearable technology into healthcare are vast. They offer convenience for providers, aiding in rehabilitation, health maintenance, mental state monitoring, and patient education. All this information is seamlessly integrated into electronic health records, providing a clear and more comprehensive view of the patient's health. Wearable technology is not just a trend. It's a transformative force in healthcare. It's shaping the future of patient care, clinical decision-making, and the way we manage disease. But as with any technical advancement, it comes with its own set of challenges that need to be addressed to realize its full potential. I'm going to hand it off to Adire for legal and compliance. Thank you, Nelly. Wearable health technology, like any other medical device or health-related product, is subject to various legal requirements and compliance aspects to ensure safety, effectiveness, and privacy. There are some key considerations such as regulatory approval, device classification, labeling, and instructions for use, and also software validation and post-market surveillance. Although wearable health technology has the potential to improve patient's care, challenges such as patient privacy, system interoperability, and the massive amount of patient data provide barriers to provider adoption. Such problems must be considered for future wearable use in order to provide safe and high-quality care to patients. Although there are potential solutions to these implementation challenges, more innovative work is required before wearable health technology can be widely adopted. As patient data sets from wearable devices are assembled and exchanged, the complexities of wearable continues to expand. Obtaining patient consent is particularly crucial as patients are likely to find continuous physiological monitoring obtrusive. Third-party misuse of personal health information may result in discrimination, changes in insurance coverage, or even identity theft. As a result, permission notices must offer sufficient clarity about what and how frequently personal information is collected, as well as describe the third parties who can access patient data, ensuring informed consent by the patient. Additional policies and standards are required to safeguard patients' confidentiality and privacy in the future of wearable health technologies and patient data integration into the electronic health record. Patients' confidentiality and privacy protection wearable health technology necessitates important checkpoints along the workflow to ensure patient confidentiality and privacy. There is currently a scarcity of empirical evidence in the literature on the proper implementation of security in wearable devices. Health is an important consideration. HIPAA is a United States law that protects the privacy of individuals' medical records and applies to health care providers and plans. With the constant flow of the data from personal devices, data privacy and security for health information must be addressed in order to meet HIPAA criteria while not limiting patients' willingness to contribute their data. It should be noted that these are broad concerns, and specific regulation may differ depending on the type and plan usage of the wearable health devices, as well as the jurisdiction in which it is marketed or sold. The traversed, the complicated world of compliance manufacturers should collaborate closely with legal and regulatory professionals. Now, Wané will go over real-world applications. Thank you, Audrina. Moving forward, let's discuss some examples of what wearable health technology can do and how it impacts our health care system. Let's begin with the most popular one first, which is wearable technology for weight control. Yes, you heard me right, weight control. So, how does it help with weight control, you might be wondering? Well, it can measure your activity intensity and calculate the amount of calories burnt, the sensors monitor your pulse, heart rate, and all the steps you take. So, it basically helps with weight control. The most common devices are Fitbits, Apple Watches, and Garmin Forerunners, if any of you guys are interested. Moreover, wearable health technology plays a crucial role in managing chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, and respiratory disease. For example, let's take hypertension, which we know can lead to severe health complications, such as heart disease and even stroke, if not managed properly. Well, now we have wearable technology like HeartGuide that makes managing hypertension a little easier. So, basically, HeartGuide is a wearable blood pressure monitor that checks blood pressure, and it does this through an extra stiff band that inflates to take osteometric measurements. And yes, it has FDA clearance. It's a great device because it controls medication for patients, it sends alerts, and logs down all pressure measurements and sends it to your health care provider. Similarly, with people who suffer from cardiovascular disease, there is ZeoPatch, which is an effective wearable patch for long-term monitoring of electrograms, and it's very convenient to use. There are no wires or batteries, and it can be worn all the time. It's great because it can assess heart activity outside of a health clinic and during your daily activities. And, of course, for people who have diabetes, wearable health technology allows them to track their blood glucose levels, medication intake, and activity levels. It's great for self-monitoring and much easier than patients constantly pricking their fingers for testing. Definitely makes managing chronic diseases easier. In addition, another fun fact is that wearable devices can help with fall prevention in older adults. Falls can be dangerous, and it leaves many older adults hospitalized. So the fact that wearable health devices use algorithms to collect and analyze gait for fall prevention is pretty impressive. For example, one study showed that the use of genetic algorithms and accelerometers bracelets were able to detect walking patterns that can lead to falls and seizures. It showed 86 to 96 percent accuracy for pre-impact and post-impact detection. And keep in mind, wearable devices are not limited to just physical health, but it can also detect mental statuses such as monitoring heartbeat, blood pressure, body temperature, and stress level. So now the question is, how does wearables impact our health care system? Research has shown that wearables create behavior changes in people and ultimately makes them care for their health more. For example, it motivates people to exercise and helps reduce obesity problems. For example, I have a smart watch and it definitely motivates me to live a more proactive life. Also, wearable devices help prevent certain diseases. It helps manage their diseases as well and helps with more accurate diagnosing and clinical decision-making. It also definitely helps reduce cost of care. Instead of patients getting monitored at a clinic, patients can get monitored during their daily activities with no high medical cost and transfer all their data to their doctor. To sum it all up, healthcare, it makes healthcare a little more simpler for people and definitely is changing healthcare for the better. Welcome to our brief QA session. We received some questions about wearable health technology today. We'll address some of the most frequently asked questions. Our first question, given the vast landscape of wearable health technology, how did it ensure that the information being collected is accurate and not leading to any false alarms? So, the most essential aspect is to guarantee data accuracy. Before wearables are released into the market, a lot of different testing and collaboration are conducted. The majority of trustworthy brands go through clinical trails to verify the accuracy of their products. Also, improvements in data analytics and AI further improve the accuracy. However, these gadgets are cutting edge. It's important to keep in mind that they shouldn't take the place of expert medical advice. They should be used as aids, as their tools. Thank you for the answer. Our next question is, how can wearable health technology that incorporates AI protect user privacy of their data? Wearable technology development plays a higher priority on data privacy. Businesses are using cutting edge encryption techniques to protect user information. Also, data integrity and security are guaranteed by the corporation of blockchain technology in certain devices. However, users should always make sure they're comfortable with the terms of data sharing and get familiar with the privacy policies of any device they use. Thank you. And our final question is, are there any limitations or drawbacks to using wearable health technologies? Yes. Accuracy and reliability of some devices may provide inaccurate readings, which can be problematic for when making important health decisions based on their data. Medical oversight and regulation, while wearables can provide useful information, they are not substitutes for professional medical advice. And the most important will be the cost, which will depend on the brand and features. Sometimes wearables can be also expensive, too. Thank you for these insightful questions. So to wrap it up, wearable health technology will play a significant role in improving patient- provider communication and chronic condition management. Devices and technologies that allow for efficient transfer of data from patients to physicians are crucial to enhancing the treatment journey and enabling patients to control their own health. Future digital technology designs and development in this field will rely on ongoing examinations of best practices, pain spots, and potential solutions for existing challenges. Thank you for joining us on this session. Until next time, stay informed, stay healthy, and keep exploring about healthcare.