DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION HEALTHCARE. Era of a paradigm shift. Remote Patient Monitoring.
View from two continents: Africa and Europe.
The authors: Ibrahim Haule & Inna Bond.
The history of the development of key trends in healthcare is experiencing a technology paradigm shift for the first time. Why is this steep technological turnaround happening? And is it just a matter of technology: digital healthcare solutions? Why do we call it the ambitious word “paradigm shift” and not just a new generation of medical devices for better medical diagnosis and treatment.
Technological trends, digital solutions used have influenced the very approach to medicine. And if we are talking about the medicine of the future, for the first time, humanity is able to assess and predict its own health. Now, try to do this without the support of a doctor, in the future, fully diagnose your health yourself. And if we analyze the evolutionary development of diagnostic methods, digital algorithms (including AI) and the physicochemical properties of the used components of modern medical devices, we can say about two key tasks:
- non-invasiveness;
- super-high accuracy in real-time.
This is a paradigm shift or a person’s transition to a better understanding of himself. For the first time in human history.
We review major advances in such analyses based on electrochemical sensor systems over the past three decades that have paved the way to the leading role of wearable electrochemical sensing systems for non-invasive real-time vital monitoring. Which is a great milestone from benchtop devices for measuring vitals to wearable skin devices for measuring vitals.
Such use of wearable electrochemical sensors is expected to bring new opportunities in medical diagnostics, wellness, and nutrition, which will support the rapid changes from traditional, blood-centered diagnostics to decentralized personalized remote diagnostics.
The human skin as an amazing complex organ consists of a network of sensors which are well integrated enabling to send multiple relay information to the brain regarding our external surroundings hence enable us to maneuver well in our environment.
Through this remarkable organ in the course of time human became interested in forming sensory equipment which will enable us to monitor our daily vitals.
Closing medical labs in hospitals?
Will we no longer have fingerstick blood for diagnosis and treatment?
Physics of processes or physico-chemical principles of patient diagnostic technology:
Sixty years have passed since proposed the concept of glucose enzyme electrodes. Through proposed idea of use of electrode in the course of time sensory electrode were created.
In recent years wearable bioelectric sensors are widely used in different fields ranging from clinical, research and recreational.
In the majority of these devices, the recording interface is an electrode placed in direct contact with the skin to allow for transduction of biopotentials from the body to the acquisition and processing systems.
Professor Kolasa once said the health care system we know needs to be sent to retirement.
Which is a reasonable fact when it comes to wearable skin devices. We need constant monitoring of vitals to our patients for early detection of anomalies and early management and hence avoiding complications this could be achieved by remote patient monitoring.
Remote Patient Monitoring! Yes!
Remote patient monitoring is an emerging field which encomprises easier ways of monitoring and managing patients outside of hospital without causing discomfort to the patient while performing his/her daily routine.
This field consist of many categories e.g. telehealth, mobile health while aiming non invasive techniques in monitoring patient outside hospital environment.
Remote patient monitoring is an essential aspect for the continuous monitoring of vitals despite patient not being in the hospital, hence when patients are performing their daily activities and this can be assessed using skin sensors which are wearable they provide real time monitoring of vitals ranging from blood glucose, cardiac activity, fall detection, blood pressure, body temperature, emotion patterns (anxiety).
9 Benefits of Remote Patient Monitoring to the patient:
- Early and real time detection of illness;
2. Prevention of worsening of illness and untimely deaths;
3. Cost reduction of hospitalization;
4. Reduce the number of hospitalization;
5. Monitoring of the patient while continuing his/her daily activities;
6. Emergency medical care to the patient;
7. Service for patients with mobility issues;
8. Emergency care for traffic accident and other injuries;
9. Non invasive medical intervention.
8 Benefits of Remote Patient Monitoring to the hospital:
- Easier to use, requires less man power to use;
2. Cheap to purchase/cost effective;
3. Use of non invasive therefore low risk of sepsis;
4. Ability to continuously monitor patient;
5. Improve efficiency in health care service by utilizing communication technology;
6. Emergency medical care to the patient;
7. Prevention of worsening of illness and untimely deaths;
8. The doctors can monitor the deterioration or maintenance of the patient while also advising the paramedics who are physically with the patients as necessary.
To conclude, Remote Patient Monitoring will act a proper prevention method either secondary prevention or tertiary prevention method and at times as a primary prevention method. By this as health workers we will achieve our goal in making sure our client have low risk of morbidity and mortality.
A new era of Digital Transformation Healthcare has arrived. The paradigm shift in the diagnosis and treatment of patients explodes all our ideas and will not turn back.
Join us and be the first in building Medicine of the Future.
Medicine where the Patient is at the center.
Authors:
