Smartwatch

Technology

In Healthcare

A LifeTech Corp. Report

Presented by:

Samantha Wann

Timothy Clermont

Florence Samoita

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 1
LifeTech Corp.
 Table of Contents

Abstract.………………………………………………………………………………………….3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 4
Purpose........................................................................................................................ 4
Problem........................................................................................................................ 4
Description ................................................................................................................... 5
Benefits ........................................................................................................................... 5
Communication ............................................................................................................ 5
Epilepsy ....................................................................................................................... 6
Cardiology .................................................................................................................... 7
Provider Opinions ............................................................................................................ 8
Public/User Opinions ....................................................................................................... 8
Concerns ......................................................................................................................... 9
Recommendation ............................................................................................................ 9
Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 10
Works Cited................................................................................................................... 11

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 2
LifeTech Corp.
 Abstract

With hospitalization rates nearing all-time highs, and the average person globally having

less free time for in-person doctor visits, it has become more important than ever for

both providers and patients to maximize the efficiency of their communication with each

other. At best, delays in communication or improper diagnoses can leads to a patient

requiring additional visits to their provider or hospital, to properly treat a condition. At

worst, these mishaps can lead to other complications or deaths that could have been

prevented had both patient and provider been able to communicate more effectively.

These mishaps also lead to an unnecessary increase in hospitalization rates, which are

already strenuous due to the global pandemic.

Smartwatch technology tackles this issue on both fronts. Smartwatches provide patients

with an unobtrusive way to monitor many of their vital statistics remotely, detect

potential warning signs at their earliest stages, and easily communicate with their

provider electronically. Fostering regular communication drastically reduces the need for

in-person visits, and ensures that when those visits are necessary, that both patient and

provider have more data to review so that providers can accurately diagnose conditions

and educate patients on how to manage them. Educating patients and providers on

regular smartwatch usage would greatly improve patient-provider communication, while

also reducing hospitalization rates through fewer unnecessary visits to a hospital or

urgent care.

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 3
LifeTech Corp.
 Introduction

Purpose

We want to invest in smartwatch technology, as there are many benefits of using these

types of devices in the healthcare system. The technology is constantly being fine-tuned

to better serve patients, as well as providers, and has a very positive outlook for

additional uses in the future.

Problem

Currently, LifeTech Corporation manufactures, sells, and provides after-sale support for

medical equipment to hundreds of thousands of hospitals and private practices globally.

The recent emergence of smartwatch technology, and its wide array of potentially

beneficial uses in healthcare have piqued interest with healthcare providers and

executives alike. Remote monitoring and patient-provider communication are two areas

in healthcare that need a lot of innovation and evolution; smartwatch technology could

be the bridge that brings these two areas into the modern world. Smartwatch technology

could provide better monitoring of physical activity, physiologic measures, as well as

help to ensure more regular communication between patient and provider. We want to

invest in and implement smartwatch technology in hospitals across the country to aid in

the betterment of patient monitoring and patient/provider communication.

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 4
LifeTech Corp.
 This is a graph of how

people have adopted

different digital health

tools over the years.

https://www.healthpopuli.com/2019/02/19/open-table-for-health-patients-are-online-for-health-search-and-physician-reviews/

Description

We have conducted extensive research into the varying aspects that the smartwatch

technology has available already, the attitude of providers towards this type of

technology, and the general public attitude towards using this type of technology. Our

research has shown great promise from providers and patients about the possible uses

this type of technology can have, and the possible future features it could have.

Benefits

Communication

One of the most common ways for doctors to get information from a patient is to sit

down with them and ask a series of questions, but “patients with chronic issues feel

pressure from [the] time limitations,” and often a diagnosis can be missed if the provider

is not asking the right questions, (Alpert et al., 2020). Not only can a diagnosis be

missed if the right questions aren’t asked, but a condition can potentially be

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 5
LifeTech Corp.
misdiagnosed if the wrong questions are being asked. This is a barrier could be solved

simply by the wearing of a smartwatch as the “technological advances have the ability

to improve healthcare delivery,” (Alpert et al., 2020). A provider could collect data for a

specified amount of time before the appointment which would give them a baseline of

information to start their line of questions from, and the provider could have a better

outlook on the patient’s day to day lifestyle. This “[enables] access to information that

was traditionally unattainable,” (Alpert et al., 2020) which could help providers more

accurately zero in on specific health concerns and possibly diagnose them before they

become serious.

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that can disrupt every aspect of someone’s life, and

there are not many medications available to suppress the disorder. There are a number

of therapies available to treat epilepsy, but one of the best treatments is early detection.

Smartwatches can be “of great value due to their ability to detect [epileptic] seizures

with accuracy,” (Tiwari et al., 2019), allowing someone to either stop the seizure, or get

help before the seizure occurs. Having a seizure in public can be a terrifying experience

for both the patient and bystanders, but if they are wearing a smartwatch that has been

programmed to their specific disorder it can alert the patient to “the possibility of a

seizure and if not stopped in time [can] send [another] alert to pre-registered phones,”

(Tiwari et al., 2019) so that even if the patient is alone, they can still get the help that

they need.

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 6
LifeTech Corp.
Cardiology

Heart disease is a leading cause of death globally and being able to identify heart

conditions at early stages could prove vital in leading to successful treatment options.

Atrial fibrillation is one of the most predominant cardiac arrythmias that occur, and it

also has the highest mortality rate. Atrial fibrillation can often lead to a stroke, and

unfortunately a lot of people who have atrial fibrillation are often not diagnosed with it

until after a stroke has already occurred. The earlier detection of these arrythmias could

reduce the risk of stroke by administering a prophylactic medication. One study we

research said that “obtaining and analyzing information from wearable devices is an

important aspect in realizing the promise of precision medicine,” (Trayanova, Natalia

“From genetics to smart watches: development in precision cardiology”, 2019).

Monitoring can be so critical when it come to heart health and smartwatch technology

can be the solution desperately needed in the cardiology field.

Heart rate monitoring is one

of the most useful features

of smartwatch technology.

https://actide.com/2020/05/04/has-mit-developed-a-machine-washable-sensor-that-can-be-used-in-vital-sign-monitoring/

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 7
LifeTech Corp.
 Provider Opinions

Healthcare professional opinions are mostly optimistic about using smartwatch

technology, although some do cite concerns about certain aspects of implementing it.

Different specialty doctors gave examples and talked about the different ways

smartwatch data could improvement their care standard. A surgeon talked about how

he could use it as a tool “to re-connect with patients after their discharge,” and how it

could help him identify patients “who might be struggling,” at home (Alpert et al., 2020).

While the surgeon and other doctors said the data collected from the smartwatches was

“equivalent to other types of medical data,” the one Anesthesiologist that participated in

the study disagreed but did say that this was because he is usually caring for patients in

the ICU (Alpert et al., 2020). In emergency situations in a hospital there is no need for

the extra monitoring of smartwatches as people in intensive care are already heavily

monitored, but outside of the hospital the monitoring of smartwatches in an emergency

situation could aid first responders.

Public/User Opinions

People seem to share the same optimism that providers have about smartwatch

technologies. As the popularity of wearing smartwatches for general daily use

increases, providers grow more and more interested in potential applications of

smartwatches in healthcare (Jia et al., 2018). When people know they are being

monitored, they tend to act differently; some have even admitted that it could “[foster]

healthier behaviors…,” “which would in turn reduce health costs,” (Cheung et al., 2019).

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 8
LifeTech Corp.
 Concerns

There were few concerns voiced in our research but the major ones that seems to come

up where providers were worried about the added workload of having so much data to

analyze, and the accuracy of the vials monitored by smartwatch technology. The

concern of the added workload was addressed by some doctors in an interview survey

conducted. When presented with this concern, most were not worried because they

“[assumed] that [they] would have control over the frequency of reports,” (Alpert et al.,

2020). By being able to control the frequency, and specific kind of reports that are being

recorded, providers can pinpoint the data they want to see and would not have to worry

about data that would not be applicable to their needs. The other major concern we

came across regarding the accuracy of the vitals being monitored by the smartwatches

was address in a clinical experiment done. The study included 85 patients of both

genders, and varying age groups, and the results showed that devices “met accuracy

guidelines for [heart rate] measurements, but they failed to meet the predefined

accuracy guideline for other vital sign measurements,” (Hahnen et al., 2020). So, there

is room for improvement with the technology, but with the ever-evolving capabilities of

this type of technology it is sure to catch up in no time.

Recommendation

LifeTech Corporation’s goal is to provide technology that aids in every aspect of the

health care system in the most effective way possible. This is why we are pursuing the

use of smartwatch technology in the healthcare system, the possible features and uses

it could have are almost limitless. The provider-patient communication dynamic could

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 9
LifeTech Corp.
completely change as doctors could become much more efficient at identifying patient

issues and addressing them this would create an environment based more on trust. The

early detection of certain conditions could prove vital to treatment methods, and future

research trials.

Glossary

Atrial fibrillation- An irregular, often rapid heart rate that commonly causes poor blood

flow.

Arrythmias- a condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm.

Epilepsy- a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory

disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical

activity in the brain.

Seizures- a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain.

Stroke- an interruption or reduction in the blood supply to part of the brain, preventing

brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients.

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 10
LifeTech Corp.
 Works Cited

Alpert, Jordan M., et al. “Secondary Care Provider Attitudes towards Patient Generated
Health Data from Smartwatches.” Npj Digital Medicine, vol. 3, no. 1, 27 Mar. 2020,
doi:10.1038/s41746-020-0236-4.

Cheung, Man Lai, et al. “Examining Consumers’ Adoption of Wearable Healthcare

Technology: The Role of Health Attributes.” International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health, vol. 16, no. 13, 26 July 2019, p. 2257.,
doi:10.3390/ijerph16132257.

Hahnen, Christina, et al. “Accuracy of Vital Signs Measurements by a Smartwatch and a

Portable Health Device: Validation Study.” JMIR MHealth and UHealth, vol. 8, no.
2, 12 Feb. 2020, doi:10.2196/16811.

Jia, Yuxi, et al. “Perceived User Preferences and Usability Evaluation of Mainstream
Wearable Devices for Health Monitoring.” PeerJ, vol. 6, 25 July 2018,
doi:10.7717/peerj.5350.

Tiwari, Shivani, et al. “Biosensors for Epilepsy Management: State-of-Art and Future
Aspects.” Sensors, vol. 19, no. 7, 2019, p. 1525., doi:10.3390/s19071525.

Trayanova, Natalia. “From Genetics to Smart Watches: Developments in Precision

Cardiology.” Nature Reviews Cardiology, vol. 16, no. 2, 5 June 2019, pp. 72–73.,
doi:10.1038/s41569-018-0149-y.

Dr. Sandi Hubnik

December 7, 2020 11
LifeTech Corp.