With everything getting ‘smarter’ around us, so are the things we wear. Companies who make similar ‘smart’ health-related products, not all of them actually live up to their claims. They are just rather interested in selling the product, than backing up with sufficient evidence and research. Though, “Vitality”, a serious health product of Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, is surely one which qualifies its claims.
The purpose is fairly simple: Whenever a patient gets discharged from the hospital, the serious health product shall aid the attending physician to keep a check on the patient from afar. This means that the patient wouldn’t need to be with a physician at all times and can enjoy his private life without him being around. In case of emergency, the ‘Vitaliti’ shall notify the physician so as to take necessary action.
The product use in itself isn’t that of a hassle as well. It is evident from the picture as to how the device should be worn. It goes around the neck like some Bluetooth headphones do these days. This design aids the two electrodes to be in a good position to be attached to the patient’s skin.
Not only this, this way the ear would be closer too, so there is a sensor which gets attached to one of the patient’s ear too. It is true that it isn’t something which you would want to wear all day long, but it’s still better than having to be checked by the physician now and then.
Also, don’t go for the product’s looks. The company took a rather minimalist approach to the design, but all that matters is that the product should be functioning as it claims.
Though, there isn’t really any side effect of wearing the ‘Vitality’ for an extended period of time. As far as the battery life is concerned, it so far seems to be good. This is considering the fact that Robert Kaul who happens to be CEO as well as the co-founder of Cloud DX, was seen wearing one of these gadgets at the current year’s CES for straight three days. This was all on a single charge, so there is peace in battery lasting long.
To what the gadget actually measures is more than just your average wearable or what a smartphone can measure. Measuring how much you have moved or the number of steps taken is pretty basic. In addition to this, the other important stuff which usually a physician measures, can be measured by the wearable itself. It can keep a check on the body’s ECG, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiration, core body temperature, and blood pressure too. Not only this, but it does all this while still following the guidelines highlighted by XPRIZE.
As to the question of how the physician can know about the patient’s vitals from a distance, it is because the gadget is in sync with a mobile-based application at all times. Therefore, all the readings which the device measures can be read by the physician any time he wants. Furthermore, whenever there is a critical reading, the person with the mobile app is alerted at once.
Though, it’s still not available to the public since it still requires FDA approval for distribution as a medical device. Hopefully, FDA would approve it in near time.