Aug 16
2018
Top 4 Digital Solutions For Preventive Healthcare
Digitalization is inevitable: Technology and healthcare are becoming more inextricably linked as new innovations and discoveries are made. Many health-related devices and services have been created in recent years with the express purpose of improving everyone’s quality of life. As a result, many international healthcare companies, like Now Health International, are now implementing innovative digital solutions to deliver better healthcare services.
Recently, broad steps are being made in the field of preventive medicine – below are some of the top digital solutions for preventive healthcare.
Wearables
By now, just about everybody wears a fitness tracker or a smartwatch, or owns a smartphone. The ability to count steps to measure one’s activity level is a great start, and is only the beginning. Vital signs data can now be collected by devices we have on us, which can then be automatically analyzed and sent to your healthcare provider in order to provide crucial information as to your state of wellness.
You can also be alerted to the amount of calories you’ve consumed, reminded to go for a walk or do some stretching exercises, or even take a short break. Sleep monitoring apps collect data while you doze and provide you with helpful information on how much rest you were able to get on any specific night.
With remote monitoring, the need to go to a clinic appointment can be greatly reduced as well. Even big companies like Apple are working on a way to determine blood sugar levels in a non-invasive way, which can change the lives of millions of people suffering from diabetes.
Pathogen Surveillance
Traditionally, health agencies rely on doctors, patient surveys, labs and research studies to collect information on pathogens and outbreaks of diseases. In the event of a serious outbreak, early reporting and progression tracking is critical to getting treatments out quickly and effectively, as well as preventing its spread. Digitalization is changing the way we respond to infectious disease outbreaks with portable genome sequencing as well as epidemiological surveillance and remote monitoring.
Disease Outbreak Prediction
Computers are helping health care professionals in the field calculate how fast a disease can spread, how many people will be affected, and determine which patients should receive priority care. The epidemiological web platform BioCaster mines text from social media platforms, blogs, and news sites to gather information on a specified area that may be a hot spot for an outbreak. There is also the option of receiving warning alerts via text or email to help users keep themselves safe.