Providing patients the best care possible is one of the most important objectives in the healthcare industry. We're all on a never-ending journey to improve healthcare, whether you're a doctor, nurse, medical researcher, or just someone who enjoys learning about new technology. And what's this? Wearable technology is a contemporary innovation that is assisting us in doing just that.
Consider wearables as extremely intelligent gadgets you can wear, similar to a smartwatch or a fitness tracker. But they're changing the healthcare landscape, not simply for the sake of looking good.
Stay with us, and we'll show you how these devices are addressing some of the most difficult healthcare issues we're facing today and fostering a healthy future.
Let's start with the fundamentals.
What is Wearable Technology in Healthcare?
Wearable technology in healthcare refers to the use of wearable devices and software applications for medical and healthcare purposes. This includes wearable medical devices like smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart health watches, wearable ECG monitors, wearable BP trackers, biosensors, etc.
Current Market State of Wearable Technology in the Healthcare Industry
- The global wearable medical device market size is poised to reach $30.1 B by 2026 at a CAGR of 13.2% which was valued at $16.2 B in 2021. (MarketsandMarkets report).
- 63% of people in the US are wearable device owners who use fitness trackers and smartwatches. (Source)
Benefits of Wearable Technologies in Healthcare
Incorporating wearable technology appears as a possible solution to the healthcare sector's current boom, workforce shortage, and ongoing need for high-quality patient care.
Wearable healthcare technology is not just an option; it's a necessity. Here's why you need it right now:
1. Workforce Shortages
The lack of healthcare professionals has become a serious problem. We can use wearable technologies to address this. It streamlines processes, reduces paperwork, and enables remote monitoring. This improves the effectiveness and efficiency of your current staff.
2. Enhanced Patient Care
Today's patients have higher expectations of their healthcare providers. They desire individualized care, ongoing observation, and proactive participation in their health care. Wearable medical technology enables you to provide just that. It makes it possible to monitor patients in real-time and make data-driven decisions, all while raising patient happiness.
3. Telemedicine Growth
Telemedicine is becoming a requirement rather than a luxury. Wearable technology in healthcare ensures that your virtual sessions are just as productive as in-person ones as remote consultations become more common. Even when the patient and practitioner are thousands of miles apart, access to wearable-generated health data during telehealth encounters enables for informed decisions.
4. Chronic Disease Management
As chronic diseases become more prevalent, it is important to appropriately manage them. Patients may track their health more easily using wearable medical equipment, and healthcare professionals can set up alerts to know if something is wrong.
5. Research and Innovation
The data we gather now holds the solutions to healthcare's problems of the future.
Wearables offer useful health information for medical innovation and research. As a result, patients receive better care, and cutting-edge medical solutions are created.
6. Data-Driven Decision-Making
The ability of wearable technology to enable data-driven decision-making in the healthcare industry is another important advantage. These gadgets collect data on patients' health and activities, giving medical professionals the knowledge they need to decide on patient care and treatment strategies.
10 Examples of Wearable Devices in Healthcare
Certainly, here are examples of wearable healthcare technology and how they can benefit your healthcare business:
1. Fitness Trackers
Good old fitness trackers. Consider them health companions. They monitor your heart and pulse.
But they do more! They also track your daily steps. To assess your rest, they look inside your bed at night. They even count calories burned.
These sensors-equipped devices are best friends with your smartphone. Smart healthcare software developers let you check all this health info on your phone. You probably use such apps daily.
Examples: Fitbit, My Fitness Pal
2. Smartwatches
Devices like smartwatches have been around for a while. However, they only lately began providing healthcare value. These devices are useful for calls, messaging, and voice commands, but they may also track your physical activity, stress, and heart rate for abnormalities.
This is achievable thanks to AI, semiconductors, optical sensors, and data science developments. They all set the groundwork for photoplethysmography (PPG), which measures blood circulation.
Remote patient monitoring for heart disease is one example.
Examples: Garmin, WearHealth
3. Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs)
CGMs are helpful for diabetics. These tiny, painless sensors measure blood sugar. No more painful finger pricks—CGMs do it.
Examples: Nutrisense, Dexcom G6
4. Wearable ECG Monitors
Nearly 30% of Americans monitor their heart health with a wearable device. The future of ECG monitors looks bright. This wearable gadget diagnoses atrial fibrillation and aids cardiovascular patient care.
The latest ECG monitors can detect irregularities and measure electrocardiograms thanks to machine learning. A doctor can analyze the data to diagnose asymptomatic or symptomatic AF.
Examples: SonoHealth, Kardia
5. Wearable Blood Pressure Monitors
Wearable blood pressure monitors can improve hypertension management. These devices can track patients' blood pressure over time, allowing medication adjustments and preventing serious problems.
Examples: SmartBP, Instant Heart Rate
6. Wearable Sleep Monitors
Wearable sleep monitors are widely utilized to track and study sleep. Being conscious of the importance of sleep for health and well-being is driving their appeal. People are using these devices to study and enhance their sleep habits.
Examples: BetterSleep, Sleep Cycle
7. Smart Clothing
When we think about wearables, we usually think of smartwatches, fitness trackers, and wrist heart rate monitors. The realm of wearables is significantly larger. It covers developing markets in numerous industries.
Healthcare smart clothing is a developing market. Imagine electronics in your shirt, blanket, bandage, cap, or pants to improve patient care.
Examples: Nadi X yoga pants, Trucker Jacket
8. Pain Management Devices
Wearable pain treatment gadgets are getting more popular. Small healthcare wearables can deliver modest electrical pulses or heat therapy to the hurting area. People use them because they relieve pain without surgery without drugs. Therefore, more people are employing these gadgets to relieve pain.
9. Posture-Correcting Wearables
Posture-correcting wearables are pleasant reminders to stand or sit correctly. Small devices you can wear like a shirt clip or back band. These devices are becoming increasingly popular since people spend a lot of time slumped over screens, which can create terrible posture.
These wearables vibrate or warn you when you slouch to improve your posture. In a world when we're connected to screens, they're useful tools for maintaining a healthy and comfortable posture.
Examples: Upright GO 2, Gaiam Restore
10. Smart Glasses for Healthcare Professionals
Wearable smart glasses are futuristic super spectacles! They're not simply cool—they display digital information. They let visually challenged people read and get directions without using their hands.
Examples: Rokid Max, Magic Leap One
Is Your Healthcare Business Ready to Leverage Wearable Tech Yet?
Globally, more than 325 million people have medical devices, and more than 2.5 billion have smartphones. While wearable health devices offer immense benefits, there are also challenges you need to take into consideration.
If you want to keep up with the market demand and leverage the benefits of wearables in healthcare, don’t postpone initiating your project.
Narola Infotech has more than 17 years of experience in healthcare software development. Contact us and let us build a perfect solution together!
Source - Wearable Technology in Healthcare
With top healthcare technologies such as IoT, AI, smart wearables, cloud computing, etc., traditional healthcare systems experienced a major raise.
With modern technology, people can monitor their health with ease.
And, it has great potential in the days to come.IoT in healthcare comprises interconnected healthcare devices such as detectors, sensor machines, and monitoring systems that capture health information in real-time.All the information gathered by the detectors is stored on a centralized server or cloud system like JDE.
IoT reduces human errors to a great extent and makes prompt action depending on the analysis.Major benefits of IoT in the healthcare industryThe IoT has made significant developments in improving healthcare facilities and continues to flourish.
Interaction of devices, apps, and human communication has made IoT a success among healthcare professionals.
If emergencies such as asthma attack or heart failure struck, the device notifies and contacts the doctor.Better experience -When you are connected to a modern-day healthcare facility through the internet, the interest level of both the doctors and patients increases.
In the world of technology, smartphones, tablets, wearable watches are the big things in the consumer technology industry.
If we add more to the buzz of wearable technology is the anticipation that the wearable market is predicted to grow up to $18.9 billion in revenues by 2020.
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Wearable technology has gone beyond fancy prototypes, fit bands and wrist watches – it’s a self-evolving category. You can now have your GPS integrated ‘smart shoes’ to help you navigate while you are trekking, running or just roaming around.
Well, now it seems wearable is the breeding ground for players like Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, and Apple. Even ecommerce giant like Amazon UK has introduced a wearable technology store which indicates that it’s unputdownable. It’s likely that wearables and apps are seemingly gaining huge popularity – which also opens up scope for startups having a wearable app idea.
