Digital Medicine
Issues of "digital medicine" were discussed at an international conference in Moscow
The conference was attended by the head of the biomedical technologies cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation Marek Dziki; Project Director of the information technology cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation Albert Efimov; founder and president of the venture fund EDventure Holdings Esther Dyson; invited consultant of Morgehthaler Ventures Missy Krasner; co-founder and member of the Board of Psilos Group Lisa Suennen; co-founder and president of "Everyday Health" Michael Keriakos; founder and executive director of "Life Sciences Angel Network" Milena Adamyan; managing partner of the venture fund "Viamedix" Alexey Malovatsky; director of "Qualcomm Life Fund" of the fund "Qualcomm Ventures" Jack Young; international director of "Health 2.0 International" Pascal Lardier and others.
"Biomedical technologies and solutions are meeting the needs of healthcare all over the world. Over the past few years, Russia has made a major technological breakthrough in this area, which has given an additional impetus to the development of the digital medicine market," said Marek Dziki, head of the biomedical technologies cluster, opening the event. – This market is growing very rapidly. I am sure that in 4-5 years we will use such devices to monitor our health, which we don't even suspect today."
Participants of the international conference "Healthcare and Technology 2012: Transformation of Opportunities" discussed issues of global medicine and promising areas of the digital medicine market based on the principles of combining information technology and healthcare. According to the speakers, the healthcare system of the future, despite the distinctive features of each country, pays special attention to disease prevention, actively uses remote mobile devices to monitor the health of patients and applies the latest developments created on the basis of Internet and IT technologies.
Within the framework of the conference, the factors influencing the introduction of innovations in medicine were also considered, and business models successfully implemented with the support of venture companies were presented.
For those who do not have a very good idea of what digital medicine is (the translation, in our opinion, is unsuccessful- verbatim, "digital medicine" is rather "IT medicine" or "computerized medicine"), we will add a review with pictures – VM.
Do you want to live 120 years? Buy an iPad!
Last year, Apple hired a medical marketing director, as the company's main products, namely the iPad, are becoming in demand in medicine.
Treatment using an iPad is gaining popularity in the West. In many clinics, these high-tech gadgets have been used. Their application in the field of medicine has already received several directions and apparently this is just the beginning.
One of the directions of using the iPad in medicine is to control the state of health of patients at risk. Those who have serious chronic diseases, but are not subject to hospitalization. For example, those with diabetes or other diseases of endocrinology, cardiovascular diseases, etc. With the help of an iPad, specialized programs and accessories for it, the patient can inform the attending physician in real time about changes in his health status: sugar level, pulse, pressure, etc.
For example, such a tonometer (pictured) connects to an iPad and records the biometric indicators being taken in a digital journal, which can automatically send data via the Internet, for example, to the attending physician at the clinic.
Similarly working heart rate monitors, blood glucose meters and other medical equipment have already appeared on sale in the USA and Japan. In some clinics in these countries, doctors are already using this technique to monitor the health of patients remotely. This allows timely detection of symptoms indicating a pre-infarction condition, critical blood sugar levels, and the approach of a hypertensive crisis.
In other hospitals in the USA and Japan, doctors have replaced paper medical records with iPads. For example, in one of them, each patient who is on inpatient treatment is given a tablet containing all information about his anamnesis, diagnosis and prescribed treatment. Each doctor makes changes to the digital patient's card in real time: prescribes medications or prescribes physiotherapy, and also studies the results of tests, which are also automatically received into the general database from the laboratory. All this significantly saves the working time of medical staff and increases the efficiency of the hospital. In turn, patients can learn through the iPad about the schedule of rounds, procedures, and even get acquainted with the database of doctors and nurses treating them. For each employee of the clinic in the database there is a small dossier containing the surname, first name and photo. Personally, I think that this is exactly what the hospitals of the future will be.
Special iPad apps that can be purchased on the Apple Store allow people to carry out simple diagnostic procedures at home, as well as monitor their diet and physical fitness. Calorie and glucose counter, pregnancy calendar, vision check, fitness and physical training instructor, medication guide are just a small part of them.
Perhaps iPads would have already been introduced in most medical institutions in the USA and Japan, but there is a serious obstacle preventing this. Surprisingly, the reason is not the huge money that is needed to equip medical institutions with modern gadgets, but the fact that most health workers do not have the desire to master new technology and its programs.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru19.12.2012