Telemedicine, Part II

Read Part I

Telehealth Monitoring Wristwatches

The first reported person to actually wear a watch on the wrist was the French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). With a piece of string, he attached his pocket watch to his wrist. In the late 1800s, the wrist watch was officially invented by the Swiss watch maker, Patek Phillippe. The first wristwatch for men was designed by Louis Cartier in the early 1900s. Ranging in price from less than $30 to $400 and more, a variety of real heart rate monitors are available in the market. Suunto, for example, can calculate metrics like oxygen consumption, respiratory rate and training effect. On the lower end, the Omron HR-100C is easy to use and doesn't have a lot of fancy functions to confuse novices, measuring heart rate with a chest strap and… transmitting data to the wrist-mounted display. If you want more features than the basics, reviewers recommend the Polar F11 heart rate monitor. The Garmin 305 (image on the right) has an integrated GPS antenna, so unlike most heart rate monitors, it can tell how far and how fast you're going.

An iPhone Blood Pressure WebApp by Bit&Becker will monitor your blood pressure over several periods of time. It will also show your Max/Min and Average Systolic, Diastolic Bloodpressure, as well as your Pulse. You can export your data in CSV (Excel) Format. Current version of Blood pressure monitoring devices has now support for extreme high and low blood pressure values. And no more google ads, to keep your blood pressure low.

Animas Corporation, which is now a Johnson & Johnson company, is no longer
longer selling the current model GlucoWatch G2 Biographer System, shown on the right. Cygnus Inc. (Redwood City, California) is already working on second and third generation products that will overcome some of limitations of this watch which include skin irritation and calibration, meaning additional finger-stick tests redone about 20% of the time.

TeleMedIS System combining the TeleMed HC Platform developed by Karolinska and Telehealth Monitoring Wristwatch (TMW) developed by Tadiran LifeCare, connected over the Wireless Network (provided by TeliaSonera Sweden), is able to measure user vital signs by using integrated biosensors. This includes 1-lead ECG, Blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2), Pulse (heart rate)

Victorian researchers have developed a wristwatch that continuously monitors the health status of people with Parkinson’s disease to help doctors manage their treatment, Victorian Minister for Innovation Gavin Jennings said in May 19th press release. The wristwatch, which is still at the prototype stage, was introduced onto the world market by Mr Jennings at BIO2009 in Atlanta, USA.

Dreamate Sleep Inducer is a non-invasive sleeping aid wristband. This watch-sized device on a strap uses acupressure techniques to “retune the biological clock and train your body to relax and sleep by massaging key acupoints on your inner wrist". The Taiwanese gadget provides a double-frequency micro-massage (via a vibration motor) to specific pulse points—termed the “Sleeping Golden Triangle” points in traditional Chinese medicine. The company says it helps in relieving stress, inducing sleep and is especially beneficial for people suffering from jet lag.

Health equipment manufacturers such as Omron Healthcare Co Ltd, Nipro Corp, and Matsushita Electric Works Ltd, all of Japan, have been announcing terminals to measure physical activity. These "life recorders" are specifically designed to make it possible to accurately measure the amount of physical activity, pulse, skin temperature and motion. They also measure external factors such as atmospheric pressure.

If you wear the GoWear fit armband during the course of your day, then log onto your personalized GoWear fit online activity manager, you’ll get information about the calories you’ve burned, plus a calorie consumption calculator and tips for how to best reach your fitness and lifestyle goals. GoWear fit also measures sleep duration and efficiency – so that you can begin to understand the influence your bedtime has on your overall health
And if you do not want the world to know what exactly you are measuring, consider design suggested by Hironao Tsuboi for an LED watch. It looks like just a metal band. Push a button, and you get the time or what you'd like to get. Don't push the button: no numbers, no curves, no pie charts. Very simple.

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