What if Google Glass was used to provide a first-hand view of the patient bedside along with data such as vital signs and blood pressure? A new digital health startup called Farlo(Italian for “do it”) that uses wearables to save lives has developed their first product, aRRTGlass that employs Google Glass in a novel Rapid Response Team management solution for hospitals.

The startup is banking on the potential of Google Glass to enhance the transformation of healthcare.

According to serial entrepreneur John Rodley, CEO & Founder of Farlo: “I think there’s a major shift going on in society about where computing happens and what it does, driven by increasing miniaturization, progress in communication standards, longer battery life and lower power consumption.  Glass is part of that shift, but it’s not the cause.  We want to ride that shift and are anxious to talk to anyone who has ideas about how that shift will play out in healthcare.” 

Role of a Rapid Response Team

Two recent scientific reviews published in PLOS Medicine concluded that more robust research is needed into the effectiveness of using mobile phones in healthcare (mHealth) in the developing world.This research should also investigate how mHealth could help women seeking help after sexual violence.

Efforts to combat violence against women and girls are an increasing priority for donors. This is in conjunction with growing belief that such violence, as illustrated by the fatal gang rape of a female student in New Delhi, India, last month, should not be tolerated.

But despite this, and mounting awareness of its health, economic and educational impact, sexual violence against girls is under-reported across the developing world. A girl who has been raped may become pregnant, drop out of school, be forced to marry her abuser, be thrown out of home or unknowingly contract HIV.

Reports on sexual violence suggest it is highly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa. In South Asia it is known to be widespread, despite a dearth of reliable data on the subject. A 2004 review by ActionAid found that the peak age for sexual violence against girls in Pakistan was between 12 and 18. 

Mobile phone technology has been presented as a solution for the healthcare challenges faced by the developing world. However, there is a lack of rigorous studies that show the functionality of this technology in low- and mid-income areas – where experts agree that mobile health initiatives (mHealth) have great potential.

Recently, two systematic monitoring projects have been carried out, coordinated by Caroline Free of the School of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine in London, UK, and the conclusion is clear: the majority of the evidence that exists on the success of mobile health schemes is low quality and comes from tests carried out in developed countries.

For example, of the 75 tests that sought to evaluate whether mobile technology interventions could change the behavior of patients or improve the management of diseases, only three were carried out in developing countries. Furthermore, none of the 42 tests of interventions designed to support communication between healthcare suppliers or healthcare services and users took place in the developing world.

Generally it is believed that mobile telephones make it possible to monitor outbreaks of polio, check on the development of diseases, assist diabetics and pregnant women, accompany rural health workers, speed up diagnosis of HIV and malaria and take and transfer medical images. In fact, previous studies have shown that text messages improve adherence to HIV treatment programs in Kenya, although they did not in Cameroon.

Health apps may become an important instrument in the promotion of self-treatment for patients. They are very much on the rise and being developed at an astounding rate; they are generally available and often at a low cost, but what are the associated risks?

Given the lack of applicable regulations, the use of certain applications may become a double edged sword – for example, when they are used in tele-diagnosis. But a guide has now been launched to provide safe, reliable searches: The European Directory of Mobile Health APPS 2012-2013, which seeks to organize the current market of mobile medical and health applications.

Aimed at patient-users, the directory has been created by different European associations in order to gather together the most recommended healthcare applications in a single place.

The European Directory of Mobile Health Applications 2012-2013, is available here. 

"LifeWatch V", from the company Lifewatch Technologies, is a new Israeli invention that seeks to revolutionize the world of clinical analysis.

Following the sharp increase in the use of smartphones, “Lifewatch V” is the first cellphone developed especially for medical use. It is equipped with sensors that can measure glucose levels in the blood, body-fat percentages and body temperature, as well as take electrocardiograms and arterial pressure.

Once the user has carried out the test, the data is automatically uploaded to the cloud, an external server whose information can be accessed at a later date and even forwarded to a third party such as doctor or, in the case of children, their parents.

The invention will be especially useful to those who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes and who need to test medical indicators periodically.

 

 

Lisa Gallagher, senior director for privacy and security at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), says the biggest privacy concern with the use of cell phones in healthcare is lost or stolen phones that contain unencrypted patient data.

Erin McAlpin Eiselein, an attorney and a partner at Davis, Graham & Stubbs, LLP in Denver, says one of the primary concerns for physicians engaging in mHealth is maintaining patient privacy of electronically stored protected health information or “ePHI.”