Connected Health and Patient Autonomy
The emergence of health innovations comes in response to a digital revolution in healthcare. Telemedicine technologies like remote patient monitoring (RPM) are changing how medicine is delivered, as well as the relationships between providers and patients. Digital health and data science promises to improve healthcare quality.
Connected health solutions include wearable devices like Somatix’s SafeBeing™ platform, which enable wearers to see unique health information and make decisions based on predictive insights. But how exactly do they ensure patient autonomy and participation?
For one, these solutions provide alerts and information in real-time to allow users to be informed even if a provider is not physically with them. This empowers them to take preventive measures themselves and even initiate healthcare interactions with providers, requesting diagnoses, treatments, and therapies earlier.
Let’s look at how this plays out in the case of dehydration. By the time your body tells you that it’s thirsty, it is already very dehydrated. Though mild dehydration is easily remedied, chronic dehydration can cause nausea, headaches, muscle cramping, foul breath, mouth sores, UTIs, and even acute kidney failure. The key to preventing this is clear: drinking enough water.
However, at least according to the press, 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. Scientific studies have also shown that 17% to 28% of older adults are chronically dehydrated in the United States, without even realizing it.
Technologies are making it easier for these adults to take control of the state of their body. For example, sports beverage brand Gatorade has launched the Smart Gx water bottle that tracks hydration needs and indicates to athletes when to drink, via a cap that lights up as an alert mechanism and a sweat patch. SafeBeing™, a wearable smartband, goes even beyond this, detecting and vibrating when water is actually being drunk versus when the patient is simply going through the motions, or drinking other substances. This wristband also has a predictive feature that detects not only when one is dehydrated, but also helps prevent it before one reaches the state.
Dehydration monitoring systems have such important applications in disease diagnosis, substance abuse detection and athletic performance optimization, which increases their demand. These tools give real-time information to users about their health, and this health data is generated by patients themselves.
However, to fully respect patient autonomy and enhance patient participation, the most vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, need to be included as well. Even here, companies like Somatix are making strides to make their platforms as easy-to-use as possible, while offering personalized insights that tailor to the individual patient’s needs.
As health tech solutions like these gain more aplomb and become autonomous themselves, they grant users greater autonomy and power over the fate of their lives as well.
