Healthcare Industry Accepts New Tech

As the popularity of wearables like smart watches and Google Glass rises, expect to see another product making its venture into the wearable technology market. This project aims to revolutionize the healthcare industry by transforming patient care and managing human diseases and conditions.

Featured image by Google

Google’s research division and other companies have conceptualized new software and hardware to help patients and providers diagnose and monitor symptoms and treatments. Many new technologies are equipped with noninvasive sensors, microchips and embedded miniaturized electronics that can model clinical trails to test the safety and efficacy for treatment on a patient.
People are already able to buy wearables integrated with sensors and microchips to improve and monitor their health by:

• Monitoring the body’s blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes and  relaying the information to a mobile device via a wireless connection
• Improving vision for people who can no longer read without glasses by providing vision correction to restore the eye’s natural ability to focus

Wearable technology like Google Glass has made an impact in the practitioners’ ability to meet the needs of their patients by administering the best care possible, hopefully increasing the satisfaction of patients and adding an extra level of communication to patients’ relatives who may not be available to be there in-person. The utilization of the Google Glass wearables extends to medical students by capturing video of professional surgeries for real-time education. Hybridized operating rooms outfitted with advanced medical monitoring technology will improve care and treatment of patients in surgery through image guidance and new tools to perform minimally invasive procedures. Printed biological materials have been implemented and encouraged in the healthcare industry to create stem cells to create cartilage, bone,  tissue, and blood vessels with the goal of growing new organs, print skin for grafts to burn victims, and potentially build cells to test drugs and find cures for diseases!

Imagine diagnosis away from the doctor via video chat and digestible sensors, diabetes patients being able to test their glucose levels by checking their smartphones easily and painlessly instead of having to prick their finger, or having contact lenses that auto-focuses and enhances your vision for you. As people are taking a more active role in their health, this union between biology and technology is only the beginning in addressing our biggest healthcare issues and offers the ability to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.