Advances in medical monitoring are revolutionising healthcare – Part Two
Neil Oliver, Accutronics
In the second part of his blog, Neil Oliver, the technical marketing manager at Accutronics, continues to examine how IoT advances are impacting the health and healthcare of users.
Cancer Research UK estimates that overall, treatment for stage three and four colon, rectal, lung and ovarian cancer costs the NHS nearly two and a half times the amount spent on stage one and two services. For colon cancer, savings of over £24m could be realised as a result of early detection, benefitting over 4,500 patients. For rectal cancer, savings of nearly £10m could be realised, benefitting over 1,700 patients and for ovarian cancer, savings of over £16m could be realised, benefiting over 1,400 patients.
The result of the healthcare revolution seems to be a healthier population and better cost savings, so what’s not to like? Despite the benefits of e-Health, many experts have already raised concerns about data privacy and the ethical challenges of commercialising patient information.
Protecting data privacy in the medical industry is especially important, but the wider adoption of e-Health requires the decentralisation of patient data by moving it off-site into data centres and into the cloud for remote access, significantly raising the likelihood of hacking. Preventative security measures would incur significant infrastructure costs.
Data security aside, there is a larger debate here about the ethics underpinning the commercialisation of personal data. Making medical records easily accessible empowers consumers to drive their own healthcare choices, from decisions on where and how to undergo procedures to the most cost effective treatment plans. Despite this, the reality is that private healthcare companies will be driven by their bottom line.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has, in the past, blocked organisations like 23&Me, a genetic testing company that provides a carrier test for bloom syndrome, because the company failed to follow the regulatory process. The FDA recently made a U-turn and 23&Me is back in business, using its genetic technology to offer a $99 partial genomic sequence that allows anyone to trace their ancestry. Once personal data becomes a commodity it is likely to be sold to third parties for marketing purposes.
At Accutronics we have over 40 years’ experience of designing, developing and manufacturing batteries for the professional medical device sector. Crucially, like most medical device specialists, we build equipment with a very long obsolescence cycle to match the needs of the industry. So, although good for investment in the sector, the advent of consumer electronics as pseudo-medical devices raises questions about the build quality, reliability and long term sustainability for medical use.
Product life cycles for consumer devices such as iPhones and Samsung gear fitness watches are typically 12 months, components are often selected with limited tolerances and batteries are embedded. In contrast, medical device lifecycles are typically ten years and batteries are removable to make it easy to hot-swap multiple batteries and for easy replacement.
To overcome these challenges, we’ve developed a holistic design process to help medical device OEMs consider battery design at the concept stages of the product development process. It is often the case that battery design is left as an afterthought and is a major cause of medical device failure. Poor mechanical design, along with bacterial contamination, lack of rigorous compliance testing and software issues are the most common reasons for device recalls.
As a result, our batteries now offer special features such as accurate fuel gauging, smart protection circuits that prevent Lithium-ion batteries from overcharging and overheating as well as smart chargers that allow hospitals to use medical devices in a continuous rotation, with the charger alerting the user when the device battery needs charging.
It seems that the e-Health revolution is upon us. Unlike the early days of aviation, it’s imperative to avoid any short term disasters. If a collaborative effort is made to overcome issues surrounding data privacy, commercial interests and product design, a truly rewarding e-Health system will provide better healthcare and significant cost savings.