Is the new apple watch changing our healthcare?
Apple is a well-known brand in designing smartphones and even smart watches. It is undoubtedly true that the company manufactures fashionable and fancy gadgets. Their gadgets come with several features that are helpful to you in one way or the other. Some of the features include healthcare features. The healthcare features keep on advancing after every edition they manufacture. The latest Apple watch edition came with several healthcare features that received both approval and criticism from the health enthusiasts.
What’s new in the latest Apple watch edition
There are several new health features in the new watch edition that will likely catch your attention. These features present a huge leap forward in the world of self-monitoring and healthcare. The features come at an ideal time as the world is looking forward to expanding the scope of applications used in telemedicine. Just like any other gadget, there are several drawbacks of the healthcare features. We will highlight them at the end of the article.
Top healthcare features
Some of the top lifesaving features and functions include;
An ECG sensor
In an easy explanation, the feature can take an electrocardiogram. The feature is typically an electrical heart rate sensor. It, therefore, can determine the rate of your heartbeat and even alert you when the heartbeat rate changes. I am using this with my Tomography Clients.
Fibrillation notifications
The feature functions by providing fibrillation notifications which highlight the atrial condition of the heart. The feature is assisted by a lead limb EKG that can record and recognize an arrhythmia as well as possible heart damage. This helps in preventing stroke. There is a button where you can send the fibrillation notification to your doctor who can, later on, come to your rescue.
Monitors your breathing
It is one of the fantastic features of the watch. It monitors how you breathe and even goes ahead and remind you to breathe. While monitoring your breathing, it will also monitor your fall. The fall detection not only monitors your fall but also initiates a call to 911 in case you don’t get up right away.
The two features are the ones that feature in the new edition. Of course, the latest version also has fitness and workout features. The highlighted features raised some eyebrows in the healthcare world with a big question, “can the healthcare world handle the new healthcare features?”
Possible drawbacks
The automatic 911 call
This feature gave some of the health enthusiasts a pause. It’s because the 911 call envisions many scenarios. One of the situations is when the call is meant to be lifesaving. The other scenario is when it’s a representation of an overreaction or merely a false alarm.
False positives
The watch will feature a heart tracker that will be available for everyone who buys the watch. The heart tracker will generally offer more health information to the wearer of the watch. This will undoubtedly cause false positives such as people getting warnings about arrhythmias that they don’t necessarily have. In turn, it would cause anxiety in people.
The false positive part continues when reporting atrial fibrillation. Health experts discuss this by saying that the atrial fibrillation reported by Apple watch is not the same that causes strokes or related stroke symptoms. It, therefore, means that one can be treated with a disease that he or she doesn’t have.
Final close-up
Some of the top health experts do not fall for these new apps and gadgets used in the healthcare sector. They refer to them as “watershed.” Well, in almost every country some institutions approve products and services that are safe for human consumption. The new Apple watch also went through this “vetting.” However, some doctors suggest that the approval was only based on the software rather than the hardware. In the medical world, every product needs to be ripped apart to allow reviewing the hardware. This helps in determining a suitable medical product.
There are ongoing researches on determining whether the new edition is fit to be part of the medical world. In the meantime, the watch is not that bad, and it can be useful in scenarios where the doctor is far away.
