Vision of Connected Health for the Future
The success of the future for professionals and patients
Health professionals have always adapted to the constant evolution of the methods, techniques, and practices of their discipline and the service of better global health. Currently, we live in a world in which technology is ubiquitous in our day-to-day lives, so it is not surprising, especially after the emergence and success caused by connected devices, that this trend has an impact on the health sector.
Connected health is seen as beneficial and promising, both at preventive and patient follow-up levels. Technological innovations always give rise to positive reactions that are easy to recognize but, in turn, cause fears and fears that need to be answered.
- Health connected to the service of a better doctor-patient relationship
Health professionals cannot continue to ignore the existence of connected health products or their patients' use of them. Connected health devices should be perceived, especially today, as tools that allow doctors to maintain a link with their patients once at home: after a visit to the consultation, in order to observe the constants of a patient and adapt the treatment; or after hospitalization, with the aim of reducing your hospital stay and monitoring the evolution of your vital signs at a distance. However, there is a certain reluctance, totally legitimate, by doctors. Not in terms of the reliability of the products, since these have been clinically validated according to the regulations governing medical devices, a seal of trust for consumers to which they should pay attention. Rather, what worries them is the avalanche of data that they will have to deal with and the responsibility of consulting them.
However, health professionals must see in these devices a real interest, especially in the personalized support that connected health can offer. The number of patients that require personalized and constant medical monitoring increases proportionally to the increase in our life expectancy. The goal of future medical devices is to simplify the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients. With proper use, they can offer benefits such as reducing the workload of overloaded healthcare professionals while maintaining patient autonomy.
- The digital world applied to health: an exceptional device for prevention and monitoring
After the evolution of connected objects for monitoring personal activity (wristbands and watches to measure activity), connected medical devices are used for health monitoring and prevention (and cure) of chronic diseases. Today, 73% of French support the connected health sector when a specific utility is applied to connected devices.
As an example, hypertension is not always detected in patients and taking the tension is not an automatism acquired outside the doctor's office. One in three adults has hypertension and 50% of patients with this chronic disease do not maintain control of their condition. It is important to know that this disease is not always detected when the doctor takes the tension from the patient in the consultation since this can vary. The "connected" approach offers the patient the possibility of providing his doctor with a history of data for a given period, which allows him to improve his follow-up and the relationship with the doctor. In the case of diabetic patients (382 million worldwide according to WHO), the connected devices significantly improve their environment, as they allow them to leave the notebook in which they manually enter the figures of each power outlet. Now, the data is automatically registered in a mobile application and the patient can consult them at any time and share them with total security with their doctor. Thanks to a more regular, more complete and adapted follow-up of their patients, doctors will have more data to make their diagnoses or adapt their treatments.
Daily measurements and unprecedented data records will improve the quality and effectiveness of the consultations, to the point that they will allow the detection and management of chronic diseases, generally known as silent diseases, which are currently detected late.
- Promote an effective telemedicine system
Connected health has only just begun and has not yet shown its full potential. Over the years, it will help fight the lack of medical staff. Likewise, it will participate in the improvement of a basic problem of our health system: the course of the patient in the hospital. Telemedicine tends to develop to respond to very clear objectives: improve access to health care, improve the quality of care, reduce serious events and improve the quality of life of patients. Connected health represents an essential advantage for health professionals in the exercise of their functions and participates in the acceleration of the development of telemedicine.
