5 Key Smartwatch Features Benefiting Health Care Providers
Even though most people who buy smartwatches use them as an accessory for their phones, there is a growing market in the older demographic for these devices. Watches such as our health monitor watch for seniors have been flying off the shelves like never before. The reason for that is all of the health-related benefits they can provide.
Not only do they replace the need for emergency medical alert systems, but they have a whole host of components that can assist doctors when diagnosing and treating their elderly patients. If you are unaware of what those may be, then this blog post on the key smartwatch features benefiting health care providers will help shed some light on the subject for you.
The 5 Key Features
As of right now, there are five main aspects of medical-focused smartwatches that are integral to assisting doctors and nurses when dealing with a patient. Hopefully, technological advancements will bring even more, but these have been doing a great job in the field for now.
Medical Identification
The first benefit that we’ll cover is pretty basic but extremely vital. Currently, the main way for a person who has something like diabetes, epilepsy, asthma, extreme allergies, or a rare blood type to have that information on them at all times is to wear a bracelet that has those things labeled on them. While that system works perfectly well right now, it would be better to have them listed out on something that can give more information than what can fit on the bracelet’s small surface.
This is where smartwatches will come into play. They can give first responders all the info they could ever need, such as your name, medical conditions, blood type, current medications, and even emergency contacts. Plus, they can give all of that without a passcode in case the user is incapacitated.
Even though there’s still the problem of a watch dying at the worst possible moment, we can’t overlook the amount of data it can give to those trying to save your life. In order to combat that situation, those with extreme health conditions should still keep their medical bracelets on them at all times.
Vital Sign Monitoring
Now, let’s get into some of the key smartwatch features benefiting health care providers that only watches can do. The most notable one, by far, is vital sign monitoring. Smartwatches that have sensors on their backsides can track changes in blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels.
The best part is that they can track all of these consistently over a period of time, which is where this feature comes in handy for medical professionals. When a patient goes in for a checkup or procedure, most of these vital signs get taken, so the doctor or nurse will better understand what’s going on inside your body. However, that’s only a tiny snapshot of how your body’s been feeling since the last time you were in. While that goes a long way in helping doctors come to a diagnosis, it doesn’t give them the whole picture.
This is why smartwatches can be so helpful in the medical field. They can show health care providers how you’ve been feeling for the past few weeks or so. If you had a day or two in which your numbers were lower than usual, that could help better indicate what’s wrong with you.
Sleep Managing
Sleep can also be a significant determining factor as to how your body is doing. If you’re constantly restless or waking up often throughout the night, it could be a sign of a bigger issue. However, since you’re not very conscious during that time, it can be challenging to report accurate results to your doctor.
With the help of a sleep manager app, you can give your doctor a more detailed depiction of how you’ve been sleeping lately. Depending on your other symptoms, this kind of info will give your doctor a tremendous insight into what is going wrong with you.
Fitness Tracking
However, not all inaccurate data that people give to their doctors is wrong due to a lack of knowledge. Sometimes, patients provide their doctors with bad information because they’re afraid of admitting the truth. An area where this is most common is fitness. It can be difficult to confess that you haven’t worked out in a week or that you haven’t been as active as your doctor suggested you be. A fitness tracker app on your watch could fix that issue in order to help your current medical condition.
Of course, these apps have more uses than simply being a tattletale, though. They can also give your health care provider more detailed information than you’d be able to on your own. It’s impossible to remember every last detail yourself, so having it all stored on your watch will make things much easier on you and your doctor.
Giving Power to the Patients
Even though all of these features are great for medical professionals to make their jobs easier and more efficient, there is one key element that can help them even more, which is the fact that you also have access to this info. While you should still go to the doctor for anything that you can’t reasonably explain, a smartwatch with this kind of data on it will help to keep you from making unnecessary trips. That can be a huge benefit when you’re in your older years.
Plus, your doctor can tell you which areas to watch and what to look for. As a possible example, if you’re having some heart rate issues, your doctor can recommend that you keep an eye on it for the next few weeks. If it goes over a specific number, they can give you a list of steps to complete to help it go back down, with the last one being to go to a medical center if it doesn’t improve. The options are endless.
Why Everyone Should Utilize These Features
Even though we’ve been talking about these features in relation to seniors, the important thing to realize is these features could be helpful to a person of any age. Whether they have extreme medical issues of their own or are perfectly healthy, having this consistent data on how your body is doing would be invaluable to your health care provider.
Given enough time, devices such as these might become necessary to receive proper medical treatment. While we don’t foresee them becoming devices that you’d get forced into wearing, if the technology keeps improving, you would only be hurting yourself by not getting one of your very own.
