Apps & Bluetooth Revolutionizing the Medical Industry
Have you heard of Cardiograph? It’s an iPhone app that allows patients to measure their own heart rates and save results for future reference. This and similar apps are revolutionizing the medical industry, so much so that doctors could streamline the in-patient process - starting with bluetooth.
A new study by IMS Research has revealed that only 5 percent of current consumer medical devices have the ability to share information through bluetooth technology. That number is expected to rise to 35 percent by 2016. BRAVEN, a leader in portable Bluetooth technology knows that with news of the iPhone 5’s new Lightning dock, there’s now more reason for device makers to switch to a consistent bluetooth technology.
Dr. Westby G. Fisher, a board certified cardiologist, was shocked when a patient brought in the aforementioned app which held a history of how frequently she experienced paroxysmal atrial fibrillation or irregular heartbeats. It wasn’t a medical device so it couldn’t differentiate between various heart contractions but it was absolutely helpful.
Other apps like SpiroSmart, which helps patients measure lung capacity by listening for subtle abnormalities in an exhalation, are making a splash with major consumer publications like Mashable because they’re “creating data that’s good enough for doctors to monitor patients’ conditions without requiring an office visit.”
With these advances in technology, it won’t be long before patients are using bluetooth to wirelessly send medical statistics to their doctors’ equipment upon entering the exam room.
Glen Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, gives mobile medical apps his full endorsement.
"People want to be empowered to take care of their health," Stream said in an article on USAToday.com. Doctors can rest assured that the devices and apps "certainly are not going to replace the need for a collaborative relationship with a family physician."
More so, this advancement could help doctors find cures for medical issues more quickly. Organizations like the Census Bureau or companies like Facebook have been analyzing collected data for years in an effort to learn what makes people behave in certain manners. What’s to say the same can’t be done with medical data?
