Innovation is our regular column that highlights emerging technological ideas and where they may lead.
While we don鈥檛 yet have holographic physicians to consult, healthcare is moving online, encouraged by an international coalition of medical and technology companies. Medical devices from weighing scales to asthma inhalers could soon carry the technology to connect directly to the web, shuttling data between doctors and their patients.
For practical reasons, health workers are often unable to talk to home-based patients with chronic conditions on a daily basis 鈥� but they could keep an eye on an online medical record that is automatically updated whenever the patient measures their own blood pressure, checks their weight, or takes their medication. Such technology could help medical workers ensure remote patients are healthy, and detect any problems at an early stage before they become serious.
Advertisement
The move beyond traditional telehealth 鈥� remote contact with a patient through phone calls or video conferencing 鈥� is being encouraged by the , a non-profit open industry group. The alliance boasts some powerful players in both the technology and medical arenas, including IBM, Intel, Google, Kaiser Permanente and the UK鈥檚 National Health Service.
鈥淲e鈥檙e moving into a 鈥樷��-style healthcare model,鈥� says Chuck Parker of Continua. 鈥淭he medical provider doesn鈥檛 have to be logged in at the same time as the patient to see the data.鈥�
Remote control
The technology for a 鈥淗ealth 2.0鈥� model already exists, but the standards needed to guarantee its smooth running have been lacking 鈥� until now. In February, Continua announced guidelines aimed to ensure the interoperability of new medical gadgets. Continua-certified devices will use USB or Bluetooth, and data transmitted between devices will use an IEEE standard in the same way that Wi-Fi networks do.
At the beginning of the year US firm unveiled the world鈥檚 first Continua-certified product 鈥� a USB for blood oxygen monitoring.
More devices have followed: in May, international technology development firm announced a wireless inhaler built around the company鈥檚 Continua-compatible .
The device receives a wireless signal and alerts the user when a dose should be inhaled. Once it has sensed the medication being issued, the gadget transmits a confirmation signal back to a central server, and the patient鈥檚 health record is automatically updated.
鈥楨cosystem approach鈥�
鈥淭o be honest the technology is the easy bit,鈥� says Paul Jones, chief technology officer for the . 鈥淚t鈥檚 all very well having a clever weighing [device] in your room that notices your weight has increased and you鈥檙e at risk of diabetes 鈥� but if that alert doesn鈥檛 reach the right people the whole system falls apart.鈥�
The UK Department of Health has begun trials involving thousands of patients to test whether patients and medics could benefit from the Health 2.0 system, although it鈥檚 too early yet to draw any conclusions, says Jones.
Parker is confident that tests of this nature will show the power of the Continua model, because the Continua Alliance already links professional healthcare workers with technology providers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a whole ecosystem approach,鈥� he says, which provides technology companies with feedback from healthcare experts to improve their products.
FaceBook for health?
But Health 2.0 might involve more than patient-medic interactions. The social networking sites that have emerged in recent years could have their healthcare counterparts, says of Cambridge Consultants, which is based in Cambridge, UK.
鈥淲e made some concept websites that go with our inhaler to show how you could use the data to benefit the patient,鈥� he says. The sites receive signals from medical devices and award points for every compliant dose of medicine. Friends with similar conditions could then informally compete against each other to improve compliance.
鈥淚n research, it鈥檚 been found that the biggest motivation to take care of your health is co-workers and family,鈥� says Parker. 鈥淚f we can tie compliance to social situations we can create the right environment for people to help themselves.鈥�
Sharing society
Parker acknowledges that some may find talk of merging health records and social networks unsettling given the privacy concerns dogging existing services like Facebook. Indeed, any talk of moving medical records online is met with unease 鈥� when Continua Alliance member Google launched the Google Health service last year, . He says data security will always remain a high priority.
But attitudes are changing, he points out. With online services like , people are sharing more personal information than ever before, and some web users may have few qualms about sharing personal data. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been a sociological shift from not sharing any information to sharing everything 鈥� your location and what you鈥檙e doing every hour of the day,鈥� Parker says.
Jones stresses that patients won鈥檛 be forced to use the new technology, even in the publicly funded NHS. Those in the UK that do opt for an online service can expect their data to be stored in NHS-run systems rather than Google Health or similar private-sector databases.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about understanding that there鈥檚 a trade-off,鈥� says Parker. A patient might decide that the benefits from using the latest technology to interact with medics, and their peers, outweigh the potential privacy cost 鈥� or they might not. 鈥淚 think a lot of people are now looking at this and deciding it鈥檚 worth it.鈥�
Read previous Innovation columns: Harnessing human nature to improve technology, When security meets surveillance, Physics brings realism to virtual reality, Smartphones need smarter networks, Looking forward to the smarter smartphone, How can Microsoft鈥檚 full body gaming interface work?, Software to track our emotional outbursts, Mind-reading headsets will change your brain, Harnessing spammers to advance AI, 100-mpg car contest under starters orders, The mobile future of the keyboard.
