Monitoring biometric data like blood oxygen levels, heart rate, blood glucose, blood pressure, and other vital information is critical to providing effective patient care. Until the intervention of wearable health technology, collecting and interpreting this data required health care providers to be present with the patient. Now patient data can be shared seamlessly through the use of wearable patches, allowing providers to monitor their patients remotely and implement care when needed.
Qualcomm Incorporated, an established company in the wireless connectivity space, has developed designs for connected, medical-grade single-use patches that will allow health care providers to access real-time biometric data to monitor patients and guide care. “This wearable patch technology will be transformative in its ability to provide timely and accurate data to enable care providers to make better-informed decisions,” said James Mault, MD, FACS, senior vice president and Chief Medical Officer, Qualcomm Life, in a company press release. The company says its newly invented single-use biometric patch makes a scalable model of care in which the industry can transition from “episodic, reactive care” to continuous, proactive care, possible. Benchmark Electronics will partner with Qualcomm Life to develop and commercialize the medical sensor patch. The devices were designed on Qualcomm Life’s 2net™ Design platform. The patches will be commercially available through Benchmark in 2018.
We’ve written previously about wearable sensors and their applications to health. Devices like the biometric patch make remote patient monitoring possible, which means better, more responsive patient care, and a reduction in health care costs. Advances in wearable health tech translates into the delivery of safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective care.
