Prasidha Ramnathan
Artificial Intelligence has indeed brought the hospital to the comfort of our home during our busy schedules.
Initially few devices were developed by companies for routine checkup usage at homes such as BP apparatus, glucometer, pulse oximeters, thermometers and many more.
These devices have their own drawbacks. To mention a few of them:-
- Not all patients are from a medical background, so usage and understanding the readings are pretty tough.
- The time period at which the tests are conducted is specific. Hence the critical points which might be achieved during these two time periods would be missed. This led to a delay in the analysis.
Understanding the drawbacks of these medical devices at individual levels, efforts have been made by the manufacturers to combine artificial intelligence with the medical devices. This has made life better. Not only that, the individual is equipped to understand the circumstances under which he needs to consult a doctor without any delay.
Some of the evolved medical devices are as follows:
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AI-based BP apparatus:
Biobeat has developed cuffless and wireless photoplethysmography-based BP monitors. It is a form of a wearable device. The device alerts the patient when the blood pressure crosses higher or lower limits. Hence, patients can easily track their BP variations without any delay or change of routine.
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Continuous glucose monitoring with the AI assistant:
They contain sensors that are paired with intelligent algorithms that help to both understand and predict the glucose excursions. This helps the patient to proactively keep the glucose levels in check without the need for a needle prick.
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Pulse oximeter:
Initially, these were available only at the hospital levels, now personal pulse oximeters are made available which help the patients to monitor the oxygen saturation level at regular intervals. In addition to the personalized monitoring of the oximeters, manufacturers are trying to club the same with artificial intelligence such as NoninConnect Elite Model 3240 Bluetooth. These are wireless oximeters that detect oxygen levels using the fingerprint. The oxygen level can be easily tracked on mobile phones using Bluetooth.
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Pedometer:
As a runner and walker’s companion, a pedometer was introduced. It helps in tracking the steps covered. To ease the use of pedometers, artificial intelligence was coupled with them. This helped in measuring the steps using smartwatches so that it could be continuously measured without any major hindrance to the exercise. It also gives additional information such as heartbeat, calories burnt, and many more.
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AI thermometer:
An AI thermometer is a boon to measure temperatures, especially during COVID-like pandemic situations. It uses advanced thermal imaging technology and does not involve physical contact with the patients.
Before the involvement of artificial intelligence, medical devices were hospital-based. Patients had to more and more depend on the hospital set up. Even though the use at home devices were made available, the readings and usage of the same were naïve to the users. There are cases where critical readings were missed by the patients due to the lack of medical knowledge. In a few cases, a mere increase or decrease in the parameters would create panic in patients, due to the misinterpretation of the readings.
The unnecessary hospital visits by the patients have reduced, cutting downtime and efforts required by the patients. Since the results of the devices are continuous and trustworthy, doctors can rely on the results to predict the further course of action through online consultations during pandemic like situations.
The advancement of artificial intelligence is moving the healthcare industry into a totally new world.
Healthcare devices have become more user-friendly. Due to the proper interpretation of the readings by the device itself, more light has been thrown into the development of a disease. On a larger scale usage of such home-based devices by clinical research, the industry has led to new findings and endpoints. In many cases, the duration of the clinical research has reduced leading to a reduction in the cost, faster development, and testing of medications. Hence, leading to an improvised patient’s life at a lesser cost comparatively.
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