The wearables industry is rapidly innovating. What started as a simple way to track your steps has turned into an all-encompassing industry that helps users take control of their health. Now, wearables can do everything from track blood pressure, monitor your health rhythm and more. Some technology may even be able to predict you’re sick before you even feel sick. Who knew?
The beauty of wearables is most of them are very simple to use, read and understand, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, etc. Some think that wearables may even assist in promoting health equity by improving access to timely care and treatment across racial, socioeconomic, and geographical lines.
As the popularity and sophistication of wearables continues to grow, so does the new way patients and doctors will see each other. According to a recent article by Financial Times, ”wearables offer the promise that people could instead arm themselves with months of personal biometric data to see which treatments work and which don’t.”
Many individuals are even bringing this data from their wearables directly to their doctors. Increasingly, these wearables are becoming impossible for doctors to ignore. Doctors are even seeing their patients bring data as simple as a step count in to their doctor to prove they’re activity level.
We can’t manage what we can’t measure. Through wearables, consumers have direct access to their health information that can help them make more informed decisions about their lifestyles and health, or at the very least have more educated conversations with their doctors. Patients are feeling more empowered to better engage in self care and prioritize their health.
Wearables aren’t going anywhere, and as more individuals grow comfortable with them, the healthcare industry will continue to change as we know it.
