Support for Telehealth and mobile health (mHealth) monitoring has risen since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the new IEEE study titled Can mHealth Technology Help Mitigate the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic?
The study points out that there are more than 60 million wearable device users in the U.S. which is more than double the users of five years ago. Last year, 20 million new smartwatches were sold. The use of teleconferencing in combination with monitoring of physiological signals along with the history of changes on physiological status can provide more effective help at home.
A task force was assembled to do the study by recruiting individuals with experience in electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes (ePRO), wearable sensors, and digital contact tracing technology.
Dr. Emil Jovanov, a pioneer in the wearable health monitoring field from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) https://www.utah.edu, participated and was Co-Author of the IEEE Study organized by the Mass General Brigham (MGB) Center for COVID Innovation.
Dr. Jovanov took part in the three month effort organized by Dr. Paolo Bonato, Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, and the team at the Motion Analysis Laboratory which is located at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston.
According to Dr. Jovanov, “A combination of off-the-shelf technology already in use such as smartphones, smartwatches, and wearable sensors, new advanced sensors, and the integration of mobile health systems would better prepare us for dealing with challenges of future surges of COVID-19 cases.”
The devices could provide early warning of onset, detect health deterioration requiring hospitalization, offer automatic triage and large-scale monitoring in improvised hospitals, and monitor patients are they are discharged to ensure continuity of clinical care services. Wearable monitors can also track the recovery of patients at home and detect delayed cardiovascular and circulatory system problems.
It is also very important to monitor frontline healthcare workers for possible infections or burnout. Since wearable devices can detect other wireless devices around them, tracking users and contacts van be automated. For example, an intelligent visitor’s badge can detect all the places a person visited and their contacts with other people.
An important issue to deal with is security and privacy. Google and Apple are currently working to enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus while maintaining user security and privacy.
As Dr. Jovanov points out, “There are many issues, ranging from FDA approval of novel sensors and applications to privacy concerns and even liability issues. These are not easy problems to solve because of deep-rooted perceptions and the possible misuse of technology.”
Go to https://ieeeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=8937520 for information on the study.