Prescription for an App

The innovations occurring throughout the medical community in recent years are absolutely astounding. Between the development of regenerative medicine, gene therapy and pharmaceutical nanotechnologies, everyday our doctor’s offices get closer and closer to looking like a scene out of the movie, Elysium. Although we are not yet to the point where just one body scan can inform Matt Damon of the exact number of cancerous cells in his body, the innovations that are immerging do share a similar goal: personalized prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for all people. 

This is no small task. Not only does this goal require an ability to understand and treat the complex physiological make-up of each individual on this planet—bearing in mind that there are already almost 8 billion of us—but it also requires that we invent ways to do this so that people can actually afford it. 

One interesting and increasingly common technological advancement that we see today are “smart watches”—devices that people wear all day long so that they can casually track their heart rate, respirations, number of steps and many other biometric factors. Although many users may not realize it, these devices are a major step forward in healthcare because they not only empower individuals to be proactive towards their health, but they also provide a vast amount of essential data that can help physicians to diagnose with greater accuracy and speed. 

Perhaps even more exciting, these same devices can be used to monitor the patient after they leave to make sure that their treatment plan is actually working. This can reduce the rate of misdiagnoses as well as decrease the rate of re-admittance to doctor’s offices or hospitals—saving everyone time, money and stress. Interestingly enough, the Mayo Clinic saw a 40% reduction in re-admittance of cardiac patients after they adopted this technology. They began sending patients home with a “prescription for an app”, which continuously monitors their blood pressure, activity and other vital signs (Benson et al., 2019).

With so many new avenues of research, each approaching medicine from every angle imaginable, it can be hard to fathom exactly how these advancements are going to shape the future of medicine. However, I do believe (and hope) that the common goal will stand: personalized prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for all people.

References:

Benson, E., Hale, R., Chae, K. K., Dorfman, J., Cutler, C., Wang, C., … Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. (2018, December 13). 12 innovations that will revolutionize the future of medicine. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/01/12-innovations-technology-revolutionize-future-medicine/.