Dec 11, 2023
With Jessica Golbus, Clinical Instructor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine from the University of Michigan Medical School
Are you familiar with the term “wearable medical technology?” If not, perhaps you should be. One of the biggest advances in the field of medicine today has been the use of medical devices like smartwatches and home health monitoring equipment. Patients and medical professionals alike have noted significant benefits when using these devices to monitor and treat a variety of health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The mainstream use of wearable health technology has become so popular that insurance companies and even employers are now willing to provide these devices free of charge. Health insurance companies recognize there’s a beneficial subscriber impact from a reduction in hospital visits, which translates to huge cost savings for the insurer. By providing the subscriber with a device, the patient can now play a role in monitoring their health and be aware of any changes before they reach a critical point that requires hospital admission. Some employers are also willing to provide these devices because a healthier employee is more reliable, which equates to a reduction in employee turnover and a more stable workforce.
To learn more about the various types of devices and the role they play in aiding patient health, we’re going to be speaking with Dr. Jessica Golbus, a Clinical Instructor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her research focuses on how digital health technology, like smartwatches, can improve the quality of care and treatment for patients with advanced heart disease.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
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What are wearable medical devices?
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Some examples of wearable devices, such as the Oura ring, the AFib History App on the Apple Watch, and FitBit.
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What is the Kardia6L?
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How do wearable devices transmit data, and what should we do with that data?
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The benefits of wearable devices such as fitness trackers.
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More about the type of patient that should wear a medical device.
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Other types of home monitoring equipment that are popular today.
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The innovations Jessica sees for medical devices in the future.
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Jessica talks more about the research she is doing at the Wearables in Reducing Risk and Enhancing Daily Life-style (WIRED-L) Center.
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What types of things can we do to improve our cardiovascular health?
Today’s Takeaway:
We’re so very fortunate to live during a time when medical science and innovation play such a critical role in improving the quality of life and perhaps even saving patient lives. As we’ve heard, wearable tech devices are improving the lives of cardiac patients who are now able to monitor their condition and be alerted in the event of an irregular heartbeat. Studies indicate that cardiac rehab patients benefit from using wearable devices in conjunction with exercise-based rehabilitation programs. The latest version of the Apple Watch can actually measure an EKG to detect A-Fib and the information can be shared with their treating physicians. Diabetic patients can wear medical devices that continuously monitor blood sugar levels to alert them of changes based on their food or activity levels. These CGMs can even be used with insulin pumps that deliver insulin directly into their body when needed. According to Business Insider Intelligence research, more than a quarter of the U.S. population will use wearable technology in 2024. The field of medical technology is only in its infancy. It’s only going to continue to grow and expand from here as we continue to learn and discover what these devices can do in terms of the quality of information and care they provide. Remember that every day is a gift and the gift we get from using the wonderful monitoring tools and devices at our disposal is a gift that can literally save lives! I’m Florine Mark, and that’s “Today’s Takeaway.”
Quotes:
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“We typically think of wearable devices as capturing data passively. There are things that you’re most familiar with, such as step count, location, heart rate, sleep, which can also collect data actively.” — Jessica [5:18]
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“One of the things that is interesting is you can bring together both actively and passively collected wearable devices to form kind of composite scores or to make inferences.” — Jessica [6:03]
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“I think it's really important that readers understand that there is actually little ability right now for patients to share their data with their clinicians in any sort of automated fashion. It's really beholden upon them to take ownership over their wearable device data.” — Jessica [6:38]
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“Not all data is created equal from a wearable device.” — Jessica [6:40]
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“We can all benefit from increased physical activity. So if you think of it from that perspective, I think we could all benefit from owning a wearable device like a smartwatch.” — Jessica [10:38]
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“When I think about what I'm excited about in the future, it’s about the application of this technology to improve health.” — Jessica [14:42]
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“You can imagine how much more helpful it would be if I could see how somebody’s physical activity levels changed over time to get that longitudinal continuous view over their health, and so I think that that is going to be a really ripe area for research. Right now, we really don’t know how to interpret that data to make clinical decisions, and so I don’t think that the wearable device data is being used as effectively as it could be.” — Jessica [15:46]
Brought to You By:
Mentioned in This Episode:
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School