Gregory James, Negosentro | The world of medicine is undergoing a major change with technology being used to seamlessly merge with older, proven medical techniques to provide the best possible care for patients. Some ideas are new, but many are a new twist on old ideas that have been improved for 2017 and beyond.
Here are several of the medical gadgets and new technologies in use this year.
Air Quality Portable Sensor
To provide protection to hospitals and portable units that go where the next medical crisis hits, Plume Labs demonstrated their Flow device at the CES Show earlier this year. The little device checks air quality on a regular basis to look for chemical emissions, exhaust fumes, dangerous gases, and test dust levels. Each of these elements could be cause for some concern or grave concern for hospitals that must provide a sterile environment to give patients the best chance of returning to full health.
The device’s display uses a variety of colors to confirm what it’s been sensing and alert the user accordingly. The data collected can sync over to a mobile app to review the findings. An ambitious, real-time pollution map across the United States is being developed using crowdsourcing from current users of the device.
Monitor Your Blood Pressure & Provide Data to Your Doctor
The Omron Evolv is a device available in the US and the UK already which provides blood pressure monitoring wirelessly day or night. The results have been fully tested and validated as clinically accurate, so there’s no more strapping on a blood pressure device and hoping it’s not fitted too tightly to throw off the results.
The data is recorded and can then be shared with caregivers like family and friends, or your local doctor. The technology is quite sophisticated. It’s smart enough to mitigate changes in blood pressure due to movement. The accurate readings are fed into the Omron Connect App to make them easy to review on either an Android or iOS mobile device.
The Healing Touch of PEMF Therapy
The idea of using pulsed electromagnetic fields for healing was explored as early as the 1840s, but it was not until 2015 that the FDA increased the level of PEMF devices to a Class 2 status for approved use to help with non-fusion risk in damaged bones. The pulsed electromagnetic fields provide assistance for broken legs that won’t fuse together naturally even when pinned or placed in a cast. The broken legs of horses have previously been healed using PEMF therapy.
PEMF devices provide the latest therapeutic benefits for muscle relaxation, to speed up the natural repair of damaged bones and tissue, reduce inflammation, and improve blood circulation throughout the body. Given that the body is comprised of billions of cells that are activated by electronic pulses, the technology makes a lot of sense.
The accelerating nature of medical technologies continues to improve patient care both in-patient and out-patient. Doctors are also able to use digital home monitoring to reduce the number of appointments required purely for follow-up.
