Future of Healthcare: Digital Revolution

This is a digital video infographic I created for a course I did through San Jose State University - The Emerging Future:

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About YQ

YOUtopia Quest is all about YOU - you being the Person, the Individual, the Patient - as well as the healthcare provider and the pursuit of being the best we can be and the digital health technologies along with lifestyle choices in support of this quest.

 It's about the movement to personalized medicine and the journey to truly get to the stage of individualized, tailored healthcare utilizing lifestyle medicine, targeted therapy, digital health, mobile health, genomics, proteomics and  the microbiome.

About the Creator of YQ

Chris Ralph is a clinical pharmacist with advanced prescribing authority specializing in pain & symptom management, palliative and supportive care in oncology. On the executive for the Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology (CAPhO), he is the Communications Officer/Chair of Communications Committee.  He is a pharmacist (and healthcare) futurist (yes, a digital health geek!), embarking on bringing disruptive (seamless) innovations/technologies to pharmacy practice (and to the practices of healthcare provider colleagues); assisting pharmacy practitioners and learners in using these in an efficient and secure way; and educating e-Patients about how to become equal partners with the caregivers. 

The era of digital health, mHealth, #HCSM (intersection of healthcare and social media) and #XMed (Exponential Medicine) are a focus as he continues to evolve this role.

With a passion for pain and symptom management and digital health, Chris has spoken at national and international conferences including CAPhO's Conference and International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitioner's Symposium. He is also a guest lecturer at Memorial University of Newfoundland's School of Pharmacy as well as University of Alberta's Faculty of Pharmacy.

He is passionate about the global health issue of shortage of necessary pain medications in palliative care in developing nations. Through Stanford University's Mobile Health Without Borders course he has been working on a mHealth solution to help highlight and later resolve this disparity - check out Opioid-GPS (Global Pain Solace).

In his spare time, Chris enjoys hockey/sportswriting, music/guitar, (Slapdash Guitarist) travelling (Hopeful Wanderer), tennis, hiking, biking and skiing.

Join Chris in the YOUtopia Quest!

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Viatom Technology's Checkme Device Approximates Star Trek Medical Tricorder

Digital Health Product Review: Viatom Technology's Checkme

• Using YOUtopia Quest's (YQ) PILOT format
• P - the product
• I - the idea 
• L - the limitations
• O - the optimism
• T - takeaways

The Product 

Viatom Technology's Checkme medical device

The Idea

As Viatom Technology notes about this device that approximates that of a Star Trek Medical Tricorder as used by Dr. McCoy, a fictional versatile analytic device that could monitor patient physiology and help diagnose conditions:

"Checkme is a compact multi-funtion device. Precision measurements combined with advanced analytical capabilities and easy of use make the Checkme series health monitor the perfect choice for everyone – professionals and home users." Features include:

• ECG recorder: ECG, HR, QRS, ST, Arrhythmia
• Pulse oximeter: SpO2, PR, PI
• Blood pressure tracker: Systolic BP
• Infrared thermometer
• Daily check
• Spot check
• Mini monitor
• Sleep monitoring
• Pedometer step counter
• Reminder function
• Calendar and clock
• Bluetooth connectivity to smartphone (iPhone, Android)

The Limitations

Very limited limitations! 

To give a dose of realism before I get into the optimistic outlook for the Checkme device, I want to highlight one limitation, one that will hamper many similar products that will developed along the same lines, at least at this point in time.

With respect to blood pressure measurement, as RiftHealth notes: "At the moment, you only get the systolic reading, although I suspect that future software updates will give you diastolic estimations as well via some clever algorithms (Viatom have confirmed that they are working on this)."

Optimistic Outlook

Check Me: Am I Real and Accurate? http://t.co/euA4T8itdx @Medgadget #mHealth pic.twitter.com/w1VaGh959E
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) September 25, 2014

Wow! 

Upon opening the nicely packaged Checkme tricorder, I was immediately impressed with the size of the device. Upon my first use of the daily check up feature (which takes a mere 20 seconds) I was further enthralled with this spectacular digital health product. 

The device seamlessly connects with your smartphone, iPhone or android, through bluetooth. The free app is user friendly, although could use some additional functionality and interactivity, which Viatom Technology is continually evolving.

As the Medical Futurist, Bertalan Mesko reported on ScienceRoll:"It gives feedback about the results with a happy or sad smiley indicating whether we should get checked ourselves with a medical professional based on a measurement...To be honest, there might be prettier devices out there with better background light for the screen, but for me, the fact that I can measure all these vital signs in quite a good quality led to keep on using the device on a daily basis."

This digital health geek is a clinical pharmacist by profession and thus especially intrigued if there is a role for this mobile digital health device with respect to the conundrum of QTc prolongation and if it could be used for screening and monitoring purposes. I do not have definitive answer today on this front but will be inquiring about this potential functionality with colleagues (feel free to comment or contact me if you have additional insight).

Takeaways

This incredible mobile health device is a mini, mobile, multi-feature, point-of-care mHealth product that can be utilized by almost anyone. As Health Tech Insider highlights:

"It syncs wirelessly to apps on iOS and Android devices, and has a touch screen for simple operation. The device is only available in a few countries at this point, as is it does not have regulatory approval in most areas (including China). The device is reportedly available for sale in the United Kingdom; it will be interesting to see how the device performs once it is available more broadly for review." 

Checkme is a digital health geek's and ePatient's dream and gives a glimpse of what will be in the future. Currently, it is one of the leaders in products that approximate the famed Star Trek Medical Tricorder. There will be challengers in the future as Qualcomm's X-Prize for tricorder development continues. 

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