While smart watches are undeniably impactful innovations, a wider array of wearable technology is influencing the medical landscape, potentially to the point of fundamentally reshaping healthcare.
When many people think of wearable technology, the image of today’s smart watches typically come to mind. Partially, this is due to their popularity, as an estimated 45 percent of Americans use one regularly.
Wearable technology has the ability to capture data far beyond what’s collectible in a medical office. Additionally, it can support ongoing patient needs that exist in daily life. Here’s a closer look at a few ways that wearable technology is reshaping healthcare.
How Wearable Technology Is Reshaping Healthcare
Monitoring Outside of Clinical Settings
One of the biggest challenges that can occur in clinical settings is the limited nature of data collection. Essentially, vitals and similar information is only gathered at specific moments, effectively reflecting minute snippets of time instead of something more comprehensive.
Additionally, vitals data is potentially impacted by the nature of the setting and experiences that occur before arriving at or within healthcare facilities. For example, blood pressure and pulse rates are affected by feelings of anxiety, so those who are nervous about receiving medical diagnoses or treatment or are being examined after an acute, painful incident may give readings that aren’t reflective of their usual rates and levels.
With wearable technology, some of these issues are less relevant. Patient readings are gatherable throughout the day, including outside of a clinical setting. As a result, it’s possible to monitor how a patient’s condition changes while they simply live life, which could make separating genuine concerns from anomalous data easier.
Simplified Data Collection with Notification Capabilities
When a patient is using a wearable, data is gathered and delivered to healthcare providers relatively seamlessly. There is an array of transmission technologies, ranging from collecting devices and plugging them into hospital computers to automatic sharing via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and connected apps.
With the latter two options, real-time data collection is possible, all without the need for manual entry into patient files. The former also allows for a reduction in manual data entry. As a result, they all effectively simplify this cumbersome part of the process.
In some cases, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi-supported transmission also make real-time notifications possible. When data is received by healthcare providers, the system can send alerts to a patient’s medical team if there is concerning data that needs immediate review. That ensures potentially dangerous events aren’t left lingering, often resulting in better patient outcomes.
Increased Comfort and Convenience for Patients
Many medical procedures focused on data collection aren’t particularly comfortable or convenient for patients. Having to head to a healthcare facility for ongoing vitals monitoring requires a significant amount of time. Plus, many patients are anxious after entering a medical office, which leads to potentially skewed data and unnecessary stress.
With procedures like sleep studies, getting accurate information in a medical setting is also tricky in some cases. Many people struggle with sleeping in unfamiliar places, an issue that can lead to inaccurate results.
When using wearables instead, patients can provide the needed data from the comfort of their homes. As a result, the process isn’t just more comfortable, but it’s highly convenient, as making set appointments and traveling to a healthcare facility are less necessary.
Alerts to Patients During Acute Events
Many healthcare wearables aren’t just capable of collecting data to send to medical facilities and alerting providers of concerning results; they can also notify patients of acute issues. Some wearables can detect signs of dangerous situations, such as a potential incoming heart attack. Then, they can inform the wearer that a problem has been identified and instruct them to seek immediate medical care.
Some wearables are even designed to contact emergency medical services when specific issues are detected. Essentially, it can proactively reach out using standard emergency numbers in a person’s region, sending an alert that an ambulance or similar emergency care options are needed at the patient’s location.
How Interpreters and Translators Improve the Healthcare Experience
While wearables are reshaping the world of healthcare, clear communication remains a critical part of the broader picture. The ability to communicate clearly doesn’t just make data gathering and treatment easier; it improves the patient experience dramatically. By partnering with a dependable language services provider, your healthcare facility can simplify patient communication, ensuring you can provide and gather information regardless of a patient’s language needs.
If you need high-quality translators to support your healthcare facility, Acutrans provides top-tier certified document translations in 24 hours. Along with general translation, our team has industry-specific translation programs, including services specifically for the medical sector. Additionally,
If you require support from experienced interpreters, Acutrans can cover all of your bases. Our video remote, over-the-phone, and on-site interpretation services cover over 200 languages, as we offer specialized interpretation services for the medical industry. Contact us for a free quote today.