NBC VideoOne of the world’s top physicians, Dr. Eric Topol, has a prescription that could improve your family’s health and make medical care cheaper. The cardiologist claims that the key is the smartphone. Topol has become the foremost expert in the exploding field of wireless medicine. Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.
Thanks to The Howling wolves.
Absolutely mate the only thing I see wrong with the ECG ( I wish they wouldn't say EKG) is that the phone is only showing one lead of twelve but hey it is better than nothing.
The other tests are exactly what is needed but what worries me is is this going to make these phones unaffordable as you can bet your sweet life that the possibility of making a LOT of money with these devices has not been lost on some.
The other concern is that it does require the user to keep these things charged at all times especially those with life threatning conditions or the very old. The latter of course it would be vey good for being able to own a vital call of a sort instead of the outrageously nad overpriced devices that are in use today.
Can you trust them in a life threatening situation? After all, look at the problems that a certain manufacturer had over maps? Not naming names, but this particular manufacturer is supposed to keep the doctor away, which I guess could well be true if the doctor is following the maps on the said manufacturer's device.
Ana day will keep the doctor away.
I can just imagine the hacker's waiting for this to come on line and scare the living hell out of everyone.
THW
Things that come to mind.
1. Hackers
2. Drug companies. If they don't get a piece of the action some one will get bought off or have a accident. Remember we are talking about billion and billion of dollars on tests and more billions on drugs just in the USA. The companies and or governments are not go to sit still and let a cell phone take that income away from them. That is what will stop this technology or at least slow it down until the wealth is shared. I'm not a pessimist just a realist.
Yes that is what I meant when I said lets wait for the smart a***s to get wind of it - maybe it needs some form of government legislation to prevent this happening.
Mind you it has given me a great idea for an app for us in the game as it were to use.
As for the accuracy of it like my original post those ECG traces were fairly ordinary and had a lot of "interference" on them which could be down to patient movement of extraneous pick up of other mobile devices.
Personally I would never rely on that readout as shown in the video and I think they should be only used as a very rough and ready indicator. A case in point are those blood pressure machines one can buy from any pharmacy - I did a lot of thorough testing some time ago and found they were out by sometimes ridiculous readings and highly inaccurate compared to those we use in hospital facilities.
Having said that I do expect that as technology advances the devices will get better.
Government legislation dependents on who or what is spreading the money around D.C. Drug companies have lots of money.
Well Bear then I guess it is up to us as the electorate t make sure they toe the line. For example the health warnings on cigarette packets.
Because in theory it is more cost effective for the government in the long run to make us more responsible for our own health and not have interference from the drug and health products people. I believe the system in the US is a total nightmare for most people - well from we see down here it is.
To my mind the health system in the US is totally unethical and goes against any work ethics and conditions that I agreed to take on and in fact I would be most uncomfortable working under such regulations and charges if I chose to work under them at all. To me it speaks reams of the individuals who take on the health professions as it seems the main motivation is money and certainly not the desire to help those less fortunate than themselves. I do not meant that every health professional in the US is so driven but the impression to the outside world very much comes across as that. Indeed I would go as far as to say that that trend is on the increase in Australia too, with doctor and dentists charging what I consider exorbitant and indefensible charges.
Rant over..
Topol: "Let's take drugs in this country......" Been there, done that.
Imagine having sensors smaller than a grain of sand flowing through your body tracking conditions all the time... Sending out-of-range values in real time to your doctor before you even feel ill. When you got home from work, you might find that your pharmacy delivered a presciption. Ok, that's just far-fetched - pharmacies don't deliver anymore. Ummm, you get an eMail from your doctor to pick up a script (better). You never get sick, you never take a day off of work - productivity goes way up, the economy booms, everyone is happy (probably taking happy pills).
Now imagine anyone with a signal scanner can track everything about you. Or worse, the data is transmitted and intercepted by ...... that organization that doesn't exist or do those sort of things (spying on it's own citizens).
Well, that was fun, but even I think I'm beginning to sound like a conspiracy nut.
I think Dr. McCoy had a few of those devices back in the '60s
Seriously, it will be a good thing when fully implemented and accepted. I designed and partially implemented a remote medical platform about 35 years ago. What happened? Why only partially? Hardware wasn't up to supporting the platform, communications were slow and unreliable over long distances unless you had your own satellite.
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