Advancing miniaturization is also going to deliver solutions for medical monitoring that are increasingly small and more pleasant for patients to use. “Medical wearables are being increasingly developed in the form of smart patches and will so enable patients to use long-term monitoring products and even receive medication in such a way that is almost invisible to others,” says Christian Stammel. This means that wearables could make treatment significantly easier and less stigmatic for patients.

Wearables – a challenge for licensing authorities
Wearables are opening up prospects that are highly promising for both users and suppliers. But they are also presenting many challenges that need to be tackled before their introduction to the market. These include medical licensing, interfacing aspects, data interoperability and data protection. “Medical licensing authorities across the world will need to respond to increasing demands and are indeed gradually adapting to their new tasks,” Stammel reports. Digitization represents a great overall challenge for licensing authorities, Stammel continues: “Just for the sheer size of its health market, Germany is a country that is attracting lots of attention from manufacturers of medical products here.”
Wearables for inpatients
“There are many innovations in the field of wearables for inpatients,” says Stammel. The bandwidth of applications ranges from the monitoring of bedsores and patch sensors to the tracking of vital data. But wearables would initially play a more subordinate role from the point of view of a clinic: “The existing medical infrastructure will slow down the introduction of wearables here. But wearables would probably deliver great benefits to outpatient care following hospital treatment.”

Wearables for outpatient care
It would be particularly advantageous for doctors' practices to start thinking about the topic of improving patient assessments with the help of wearables. Stammel explains: “The first health-monitoring devices that have also been officially certified – e.g. ‘Philips Health Watch’ – have simplified the use of wearables as reliable indicators.” The device captures such vital data as heart frequencies and will also track movement, sitting and sleeping behavior and does so without the need for an additional chest strap. The data are stored in the cloud in compliance with data-protection guidelines and may then be shared with physicians and medical experts if necessary. Stammel thinks that the use of wearables will in the near future become a performance feature for high-quality medical practices: “Physicians should be familiar with the products that are already available today for diabetes patients and be aware of the benefits to medical treatment and the patients' quality of life so that they can prescribe such products.”

Association Viewpoints Homepage