Patients with chronic medical conditions like depression and diabetes may not be attended by doctors until they are in crisis and are in the emergency room.
The good news is that, when the patients withdraw, their smartphones might reach out for them. Thanks to the application which tracks how often the patients send text messages, make a call or even move around and where they go. Any change in their habits which suggests that they have become withdrawn, the application immediately alerts the doctors or the caretaker. Many hospitals and medical centres are testing this technology. Thanks to the financial help from medical chains like US Military and Insurance companies.
Most of the technology which may come handy for the application to perform like global positioning systems and accelerometers used in tracking location and movement are already there in the smartphones.
Research conducted on 15 patients with chronic gastrointestinal trouble showed that the patients clearly changed their communication and movement patterns before the onset of severe symptoms.
This technology measures social behaviours at a scale and depth of a patient which he or she didn’t had before. However, the software is still being tested for its effectiveness.
According to some researchers and medical experts, the software will not only find out the worsening conditions of the patients, but also find out behaviour changes. For examples, patients who have stopped taking medications or may require a dosage change.
Adam I Kaplin, a professor of psychology and neurology at John Hopkins was of concern that such systems might send wrong alerts or the patients may think that they are overly monitored.
The people behind this technology who are aware of the privacy concerns note that the patients must be consented and should make sure that information goes to health professionals and designation family members only.
No comments:
Post a Comment