MODIFYING HEALTHCARE WITH WEARABLE HEALTH SENSORS AND DIGITAL MEDICINES
Technology
Humans have always looked for ways to enhance the quality of their lifestyle. They have accomplished this aim over time by inventing innumerable objects, ranging from the pencils we write with to the gigantic machines functioning inside the power plants, in a diverse range of industries. Similarly, healthcare has also witnessed numerous breakthroughs and evolutions along the way: the latest of them being wearable heath sensors and digital medicines.
Wearable health sensor technology is not something new. It includes electronic devices that consumers can wear, like Fitbits and smartwatches, and are designed to collect the data of users’ personal health and exercise.[1] In recent years, the technology has advanced from bulky devices to pliable patches that can adhere to users like temporary tattoos. However, such gadgets can cost heftily. In addition to that, they are liable to follow skin contours improperly, causing them to display faulty results. Thankfully, researchers have now come up with a new version of wearable health sensor technology, called the ‘drawn-on-skin electronics system’, that is a solution to both the aforementioned pitfalls.
A few stencils and three pens might sound like a child’s drawing materials, but these are really the tools that have been used by researchers today to create an example of ‘drawn-on-skin electronics system’ — health monitors drawn directly on human skin. A team led by Faheem Ershad, a biomedical engineer at the University of Houston, first used silver slakes in a polymer solution that is safe to apply on human skin to create a conductive ink. The ink was filled into the adapted ballpoint pens that were then used to trace within a stencil, made up of tape and film and settled down on a volunteer, to draw the relevant circuitry. As soon as the ink dried, the circuitry began to operate as a cheap health monitor. Finally, through a standard electrical lead, the data was transmitted to a computer, ready to be interpreted.
“It’s really that simple.”, comments Faheem.
“It’s like a kindergartener learning how to draw shapes.”[2]
This health sensor clung perfectly to the skin. Hence, the wearers could move around without jerking it and thereby affecting the results. Besides, the circuitry drawn with ink on skin could also easily be removed by a wet paper or towel despite the fact it prevented sweat and rubbing. Moreover, with the help of just this sort of ink, the team was able to measure skin hydration and the electrical activity of heart and skeletal muscles. With additional or more complex inks, they were able to keep a track of other health aspects as well. Now, the researchers propose to turn the health sensor truly wireless by involving more complex ink-based circuits. In this way, people will be able to get access to affordable kits of stencils and pens to keep a track of their own health at home.
Let’s move onto digital medicines now.
Digital medicine describes a field concerned with the use of technologies as tools for measurement and intervention in the service of human health.[3] It was established around 2007 and largely involves apps to determine or track mental or physical impairments autonomously or even conduct therapies. Thus, these apps can be broadly divided into two main categories: detection apps and therapeutic apps.
The detection or ‘digital phenotyping’ apps mainly rely upon mobile devices to flag a possible disorder. By way of their mobile phones, they are able to record users’ various features, such as voices, locations, facial expressions, exercise, sleep, texting activity, etc., and then evaluate results based on them after seeking some assistance from artificial intelligence. For instance, some apps are under development to detect breathing disorders, depression, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, autism and others.
Similarly, therapeutic apps also use mobile phones to dispense treatments for disorders. A few examples of such apps are Pear Therapeutic’s reSet, Somryst and EndeavorRx. Pear Therapeutic’s reSet provides 24/7 cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and also provides clinicians real-time data on their patients’ cravings and triggers. Somryst is an insomina therapy app , while EndeavorRx was the first therapy app to be introduced as a video game for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Plainly, the wearable health sensors and digital medicines are tools to modify healthcare to better serve humanity. However, it should always be borne in mind that these can be inimical to life as well at the same time. Therefore, they should always be made to undergo extreme scrutiny before being approved for public use. In that way, we will not only be able to reach our desired goal through them but also evade its negative consequences.
[1] “Wearable Tech in Healthcare: Smart Medical Devices & Trends in 2020 — Business Insider,” accessed November 30, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/wearable-technology-healthcare-medical-devices.
[2] “New Pen-and-Ink Method Draws Health Sensors Directly on Skin — Scientific American,” accessed November 23, 2020, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-pen-and-ink-method-draws-health-sensors-directly-on-skin/.
[3] “Defining Digital Medicine — Digital Medicine Society (DiMe),” accessed December 6, 2020, https://www.dimesociety.org/index.php/about-us-main/defining-digital-medicine.
Credits:
- Fig.1 provided by UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering — David, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/legalcode
- Fig.2 provided by Noun Project, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
