Wearables – The Next Big Opportunity in Healthcare
Written By: J Bougie, Recruitment Specialist @WardTechTalent
Like it does to everything else in our lives…technology is making great strides in changing the healthcare sector. More specifically and more so than in other professional environments, wearable technology presents a great opportunity to help evolve the way we we operate and engage. While the obvious associations are with medical professionals using wearables to improve the care they are providing this new technology can also help manage many issues one may have in their daily lives.
Predominantly to this point the mainstream has focused largely on the fit bits and activity trackers; the reality though is that the potential opportunity and impact of wearables in health is enormous. Wearables are still in the early stage of innovation but are already reshaping how we deliver and treat health and wellness. And when corporations such as Apple, Google and Samsung, who are all rumored to be researching ways to give wearable devices such as smart watches the ability to check blood sugar and help diabetics manage their condition, you know the tipping point is about to come.
As wearable technology advances, devices could include sensors and software to measure a variety of physiological parameters including heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels, body mass index, and potentially even complex measures such as stress or blood sugar levels. This in turn could benefit the health care sectors in monitoring patients’ needs and medical status better than ever before. And on the delivery side we’re already seeing wearables that can steady a surgeon’s hand or optical devices that map out a patient’s veins, arteries, muscles, tendons, ligaments and organs – much like a hybrid view of Google Maps.
While quality of life and quality of care are significant drivers of adoption, reducing healthcare costs is also a massive motivator for introducing wearables into the Health care sector; and it’s why insurance companies are reportedly looking at wearables and the possibility of rewarding those who opt in with lower premiums. This in turn though brings us to the overall benefit of wearables which enable us to become attuned to and more quickly aware of the warning signs of serious illness or disease. This advanced knowledge will then prompt less costly and less invasive and more effective treatments and contribute to longer and healthier lives.
