Amidst the snaps of the cerulean latex gloves, the shrill wails of pain, and the squeaks of gurney wheels, the persistent beeps of the patients’ monitors are the sounds that most glaringly pervade every hospital unit. Yet with the fast-paced transformation of medicine from traditional to digital, the monitor in each hospital room is now a mere witness to the influence of technology within the medical field. That advancement is the Fitbit.
In modern 2014, the Fitbit is a more personal device; a step above the monitor that is ubiquitous in hospitals. Hot on the market, the Fitbit is a wearable technology that promotes a healthy lifestyle by detecting the number of calories a person burns, his or her sleep patterns, and more. The new Surge model of the Fitbit, to debut in early 2015, will even track one’s heart rate.
Though wearables like the Fitbit have garnered much hype, Dr. Robert Glatter of Forbes Magazine says that wearable tech advancements should be geared toward the medical field specifically.
“This technology could likely be used on a greater scale to help [patients with chronic conditions], who truly need it the most,” he says. As an example, he cites a recent study conducted by PricewaterhouseCooper’s Health Research Initiative, which notes that patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions can download a smartphone app to help them manage their condition.
Many more technological advancements are emerging that will optimize the well-being of chronically-ill patients. In a book titled The Creative Destruction of Medicine, Dr. Eric Topol says that technology is being developed to detect and predict an imminent heart attack. Through imbedding a nanosensor inside a person who is at risk, the patient can be alerted of an oncoming heart attack via his or her smartphone. This will prompt the person to fend off the attack by taking specific medications or seeing his or her doctor. Engineers hope that the nanosensor will even be able to inject the medication into the bloodstream immediately.
Similarly, a mechanism has been produced to measure the level of donor DNA in the blood of transplant recipients, which will indicate if an organ has been rejected. The use of a miniscule nanosensor will eliminate the need for invasive procedures to determine the success of a transplant.
Perhaps one of the most interesting advances in medical technology is what Dr. Topol dubs “printing organs.” CT scanners, which use radiation to capture images of the body, can map the configuration of an organ layer by layer. Using this model along with special 3-D printers, companies like Organovo are printing biological structures such as blood vessels. In one case, 3-D images of a cancer patient’s trachea were taken to create an identical plastic replacement. The patient’s own stem cells were then imbedded into the crafted trachea, which was surgically inserted in her neck. In another case, researchers in 2006 sampled a section from the bladder of a spinal bifida patient, and grew a new, functioning bladder. Surgeons subsequently implanted it successfully into the patient.
In a broader sense, one of the most prominent changes in the medical world is the shift from paper notes to electronic health records, commonly known in the medical world as EHR. Doctors enter their notes into a database on the computer, which allows other specialists to view the patient’s history and current condition. This paves the way for improved quality of patient care, not to mention efficiency of care, as various caregivers have easy access to the same information.
For patients with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease who see several doctors, EHR is extremely beneficial. An article from Johns Hopkins University, published in 2004, a year when the knowledge of EHR systems was first surfacing, asserted that the main motivation for the development of one clear electronic health record system, to which all clinicians will be permitted access, is that it will improve “coordination of care” for patients with chronic medical conditions. Visits to specialists will no longer entail prolonged discussions of the patients’ past visits to doctors; instead, the doctor will see on the screen exactly what he needs to know. Moreover, the article notes that the implementation of EHR reduces the number of unnecessary hospital visits, repetition of diagnostic testing, and “conflicting clinical advice.”
EHR also contains valuable data that helps researchers explore trends in patients with specific diseases, leading to breakthrough discoveries about the disease. In a study at Vanderbilt last month, scientists perused through a myriad of records in their EHR system and found that a specific drug is particularly effective in treating cancer in patients with both cancer and diabetes.
Though the system holds much promise specifically in the area of chronic illness, the majority of American hospitals did not immediately adopt it as their sole method of compiling patient records. However, according to a study done by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, reported this year by The Washington Post, the percentage of hospitals that have implemented at least a basic EHR into their systems rose from 10% in 2008 to 58.9% in 2013.
This growing, widespread use of EHR systems is necessary for another new technology that has been approved by the FDA: medical robots that will check on hospital patients. The robot contains a two-way video screen and has the ability to assess the patient’s vital signs and complete routine charts. This will assist patients with chronic conditions, as they require frequent check-ups during their stay in the hospital.
Michal MacRae, writing for ASME.org, reveals that The RP-VITA Remote Presence Robot is only one of many wondrous advancements. For example, a patch that will detect blood-glucose levels in diabetes patients will replace the need for constant finger-pricks. Additionally, people with chronic headaches, which have been found to be connected to a specific nerve bundle in the face, will soon be able to prevent their headaches from occurring. They will receive a small implant in their face, and when they sense an oncoming headache, they can signal their device to prevent the neurotransmitter from contacting the nerve, thereby thwarting their own headache.
As the medical world continues to move in the direction of the digital, extensive research and technological advancements has greatly improved the lives of people with chronic conditions. They can now monitor their health on their own, gain access into their own medical records, and even prevent catastrophic relapses. But there is always room for more; just like a typical hospital is associated with the reverberant beeping of monitors, so too the quintessential biomedical engineering laboratory should be a bustling factory for the creation of newer and even better nanotechnologies for patients with chronic conditions, thus setting the pace for the marvels that the next ten years will bring for the benefit of the public at large.