Good health is a gift that few of us truly can appreciate until it’s gone. There are few things more precious than feeling strong and vibrant in body, mind, and spirit. But when that sense of well-being is threatened, almost everything else in life becomes secondary to the ultimate goal of restoring wellness.
The good news, though, is that patients and healthcare providers alike now have more and better tools than ever before to support health and healing. Among the most promising and powerful of those tools are the myriad wearable health devices operating through the vast and growing Internet of Things (IoT).
Indeed, the internet of things and wearable devices are transforming patient care and producing patient outcomes that we once could only dream of. At the core of these successes is the emergence of the power of personalized medicine.
What is Personalized Medicine?
Historically, the practice of medicine has been largely a numbers game. Medical diagnoses and treatment plans were based largely on research studies with “average” subjects and not on individual patients.
Personalized medicine, as the name suggests, turns this standard model on its head by basing diagnoses and treatment plans not on statistics but on individual patient data. Personalized medicine is predicated on the clinician’s ability to collect substantial volumes of relevant, timely, and accurate information on the individual patient’s mental and physical functioning.
Enter IoT and wearable health tech. Through the use of wearable health monitors securely connected to the IoT, healthcare providers can collect massive amounts of patient data. This includes the continuous monitoring and documenting of everything from blood pressure to glucose to respiration.
IoT-based wearables can also track brain waves and cardiac function across time. Some even monitor the patient’s sleep patterns, physical activity, nutritional intactness, and medicine compliance.
Best of all, these devices enable a far more accurate reflection of the patient’s true health status than what is typically found in the artificial (and highly stressful) environment of the clinic or hospital. Thus, clinicians can make informed decisions based on the patient’s unique needs — not on standard protocols derived from research studies.
And it’s not only healthcare providers who are empowered by the personalized data offered through IoT-connected health wearables. Elite athletes, for example, are reaping the benefits of apps such as WHOOP, which can monitor an athlete’s physiological response to strain. Armed with this data, users can then develop a recovery plan that helps them optimize their training regimen.
IoT, Wearables, and Autonomy
One of the most exciting aspects of the use of IoT and wearable devices in personalized medicine is the capacity to empower and emancipate patients. Before the advent of personalized medicine and the care capacities borne of IoT-based wearables, treatment approaches were largely defined by statistical risk assessments.
For example, seniors and persons with disabilities often enter assisted living facilities not because of a specific need for care but because of their statistical risk for falls and other injuries. With the advent of health wearables, however, these same patient populations are now able to retain their independence for longer than would otherwise be possible.
This is because IoT-connected wearables enable family members and healthcare teams to monitor the patient’s status anytime and from anywhere. These devices can even be programmed to immediately alert caregivers to a concerning change in the patient’s vital signs or normal activity patterns. They can even track when patients have taken medication — which can be tricky to track otherwise if they experience memory loss or other diagnosable dementia symptoms.
Personalized Medicine and Expanded Patient Access
As we’ve seen, personalized medicine is enabling seniors and persons with disabilities to maintain their independence while receiving the care they need. At the same time, IoT-connected wearable devices are also increasing healthcare access for patients in remote areas.
For instance, remote health monitoring can be effectively combined with other telehealth technologies, such as video conferencing with healthcare providers. This ensures that patients without transportation to a healthcare facility will enjoy the continuity of personalized care they deserve.
This allows healthcare providers to more accurately assess the patient’s health status without requiring them to make costly, inconvenient, and often unnecessary trips for in-person care. At the same time, the depth of information provided by these devices significantly decreases the likelihood that providers will miss serious health concerns or delay treatment. In other words, through the kind of personalized care made possible through these devices, rural patients who need hands-on care are far more likely to receive it — and promptly.
Personalized Medicine, IoT, and Mental Health
Wearable health devices connected to the internet of things aren’t just optimizing personalized approaches to medical care. They’re also enhancing mental and behavioral healthcare.
Addiction, for example, is a pervasive and worsening problem — both in the United States and around the world. However, through IoT-connected wearables, those experiencing drug or alcohol dependency can receive the prompt, personalized care they need to achieve safe, long-term sobriety.
For example, those going through alcohol withdrawal can experience a range of symptoms — some of which may be life-threatening. However, wearable devices are increasingly able to monitor highly complex physiological and neurological responses, including detecting brain activity associated with depression.
This data may ultimately help clinicians define addiction recovery strategies tailored to the patient’s unique and individual needs. Given the extremely high relapse risk for those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, the insights gleaned from wearable health devices may be the key to lasting sobriety.
The Takeaway
Although the medical field is home to plenty of other technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, advances within IoT and wearable technology are more tangible than ever before — proving that this technology is the future of medicine.
Through these technologies, clinicians and researchers are revolutionizing the field of personalized medicine. This enables them to align diagnostic and therapeutic practices with the unique needs of individual patients. The result is better patient outcomes and a more autonomous and empowered patient. Indeed, as the field of personalized medicine continues to advance through the use of IoT-based health wearables, humans may achieve better health and greater longevity than was once thought possible.
