Physician Views: What future for wearable health technology?
As the patient becomes a more proactive stakeholder in the healthcare sphere and the development of many treatment regimens becomes increasingly personalised, the role of wearable health technology is on the rise.
Such technologies are seen by many – from patient groups to pharma companies – as an inevitable evolution in the way patients are able to monitor their own health and obtain advice and guidance about healthier lifestyles and treatment options.
Wearable technology holds the promise as being a critical enabler in opening up the conversations and interactions between patients and physicians, potentially giving the latter a greater opportunity to prioritise treatment over diagnosis. By allowing patients to more accurately self monitor, wearable health technology could drive a seismic 'consumer revolution' argue experts.
Such a shift could prove significant if it has the potential to free up scarce healthcare resources, reduce costs, improve patient compliance and ultimately drive an improvement on outcomes.
Nevertheless, while recent advances in mobile and wearable technology have opened up these possibilities, converting them to realistic opportunities is beset with challenges. The cost associated with an unproven approach is one factor to consider, as are issues of patient compliance and data accuracy.
To better gauge how physicians perceive the opportunities associated with wearable health technology, FirstWord polled 166 cardiologists and endocrinologists based in the EU5 and US. Specifically we asked them.
Such technologies are seen by many – from patient groups to pharma companies – as an inevitable evolution in the way patients are able to monitor their own health and obtain advice and guidance about healthier lifestyles and treatment options.
Wearable technology holds the promise as being a critical enabler in opening up the conversations and interactions between patients and physicians, potentially giving the latter a greater opportunity to prioritise treatment over diagnosis. By allowing patients to more accurately self monitor, wearable health technology could drive a seismic 'consumer revolution' argue experts.
Such a shift could prove significant if it has the potential to free up scarce healthcare resources, reduce costs, improve patient compliance and ultimately drive an improvement on outcomes.
Nevertheless, while recent advances in mobile and wearable technology have opened up these possibilities, converting them to realistic opportunities is beset with challenges. The cost associated with an unproven approach is one factor to consider, as are issues of patient compliance and data accuracy.
To better gauge how physicians perceive the opportunities associated with wearable health technology, FirstWord polled 166 cardiologists and endocrinologists based in the EU5 and US. Specifically we asked them.
- How aware they are of wearable health technologies
- What they perceive to be the key benefits
- What concerns they have
- What they believe to be the biggest priority in wearable health technology that needs to be addressed over the next 12 months
- Which stakeholder they believe will play the most important role in driving broad usage of wearable health technology
