The
Benefits of Becoming a Cyborg: improving outcomes by keeping us honest
One of the most exciting current
developments in mobile health technology is the increasing availability of
smartphone-based health monitoring accessories.
Devices currently on the market are mostly focused on cardiovascular
monitoring or diabetes testing, but as the space evolves, more diverse
technology will become available.
Why are these tools so
valuable? At a topline level, it’s
because they keep us honest. As market
researchers, we’re well aware of common human biases that affect how all of us
self-report information to others. For
instance, humans have an inherent bias towards optimism which may cause us to
gloss over negative items in our health history, sometimes depending on how
they were experienced (see work from Daniel Kahneman, e.g. Thinking, Fast and Slow, 2011).
We might forget how many times we’ve felt terrible due to a chronic
condition; or, at our annual check-up, we may neglect to mention the few small health
quirks that made us think “huh, that seems weird, I should mention that at my
checkup…” over the previous year, especially if we ultimately felt ok after
they had passed.
Further, the way each patient talks
about their disease can be unique. A
worried or scared patient with a newly-developed issue might recall their
symptoms as much worse than they were at the time. Or, a patient who’s hoping to avoid
medications might gloss over or downplay the significance of their symptoms.
For doctors and researchers alike,
it’s essential for patients’ health information to be as correct, standardized,
and reliable as possible. Wearable
health monitors not only ensure that patient data is collected accurately, but
they also allow healthcare providers to capture a wide picture of the patient’s
health in a variety of settings, granting a more complete picture of
health. For instance, sometimes a
patient may come into a doctor’s office with a complaint that can’t be
replicated while the patient is there (e.g. heart palpitations or muscle
spasms). More continuous monitoring of
the patient’s health can help doctors to gain an accurate understanding of just
how frequently and severely these issues are occurring in the patient’s daily
life.
Who
may want to take advantage of wearable health monitors?
In some cases, patients may feel
that their annual readings at a doctors’ office aren’t providing their doctor
with a full and accurate picture of health.
For instance, a patient who’s nervous about their blood pressure readings
(or even just interacting with a doctor in general) may start to panic right
before that test is given, resulting in a reading that’s more extreme than
their usual levels and subsequently, a bit of a misdiagnosis. In a case like this, a portable health
monitor worn during the patient’s everyday life could help give a concerned
doctor a broader look into the patient’s blood pressure in a variety of
settings.
Other types of mobile health tools,
such as cardiovascular monitors, can save patients the time, cost, and effort
of coming into a healthcare provider’s office just to have a certain test
done. Though current technologies may
not be at this level yet, in the future, perhaps patients who require regular
monitoring after surgery or a prescription change can electronically submit
their test results directly and securely to their physician, helping to reduce
costs to the patient and freeing up the healthcare staff to spend more time
seeing patients for more substantive visits.
Some devices, like the Scanadu Scout,
are designed for a future where we can all monitor all of our vital signs for
early warnings of negative events. In
its early stages, such a device might cause a lot of false alarm, as patients
may be unable to make reliable, educated judgments from their data. However, in time, perhaps systems like these
can monitor a range of vital signals and health outcomes that are relevant to an
individual’s specific risk profile and baseline health (e.g. perhaps a complex
disease runs in one’s family, and monitoring for just one vital or another
alone wouldn’t catch it effectively).
At Branding Science, we’re
passionate about information and data, and we’re also firm believers that well-organized
data tell a story. The true value of
such monitors is in their ability to work in the context of other forms of
treatment and help a physician make sense of a patient’s symptoms and future potential
for illness. We look forward to seeing
how current and future technologies make sense of large amounts of health data
to make a difference in patients’ lives!
Written by Brittani Baxter in our San Francisco Office
