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Engage with your health
The Observer on Sunday, 11 November, 2012
The rise of the smart phone has changed many things, with the health
and fitness industry being no exception. The versatility of these
devices means that they can be paired with many different accessories,
while built in features like GPS and accelerometers allow motion to
be monitored by applications, helping to calculate everything from
distance covered to calories burned and even heart rate.
At the recent Healthcare 20/20 conference, the role of technology
and how it can enhance patient care and patient engagement was one
of the main topics discussed.
If fact, through the use of mobile devices and connected monitoring
devices, monitoring your health statistics is now easier than ever.
Scales and blood pressure monitors can talk to mobile phones, meaning
that you no longer have to scribble numbers down on a piece of paper
somewhere – the readings are recorded and held for easy access and
analysis, whether by you or your health care professional.
“We need to go where patients are. Patients are on their phones 24/7
and if there’s an app that can help them, we need to use that,” said
Barbara Ficcara, a noted author on health matters, registered nurse
and speaker at the conference
Smart phones can also provide anywhere access to electronic health
records, with some hospitals in the US offering this service to their
patients. This allows patients to call up information on their treatment,
medications and health history wherever they are in the world – very
useful when something happens during a holiday somewhere and a physician
might require quick access to your records.
Of course, health care apps are currently not regulated, so it could
be tough to tell the good from the bad. However, according to Ficcara,
names like Cleveland Clinic, Nike Fuel Band, American Red Cross, and
Walgreens which are well known in a more brick and mortar sense have
managed to translate their success into the app world, with consumers
trusting apps by these names easily.
Some of the most popular apps are related to monitoring activity levels
or assisting with calorie counting as people try to lead more healthy
lives through controlling their weight.
Many of these apps also use gaming motivation in order to help users
stick with a programme, whether through setting targets to be reached
or through social network integration, which allows users to compete
against others using the same app.
An excellent example of how all these elements can be combined is
the aforementioned Nike Fuel Band. The band itself contains an accelerometer
which tracks movement, which in turn is recorded on a smart phone.
Users can set certain ‘fuel’ targets for the day in terms of activity,
with achievement rewards unlocked along the way, in typical video
game fashion. The information on how active you were during the day
can also be shared through social networks like Twitter or Facebook
or analysed on your smart phone. For someone who needs a little bit
more motivation to get active, the combination of technology, gaming
and social networking could be just the ticket.
A similar gaming element is added to sports like cycling through apps
including Strava, which allow users to record their time over a certain
route, upload it to the Strava website and then have other users complete
the route and see whether they can better the time. Even though this
is aimed at people who are already active, the competitive element
provides greater motivation to train and improve, thereby improving
the health of those engaging with the app.
According to Ficcara, behaviour is contagious and can spread through
social networks, whether those networks be traditional or electronic
in nature, which means that through sharing activities people may
be able to inspire their friends to become more active as well.
Gaming and fitness also have more direct links, with game console
makers having introduced motion based controllers to their gaming
ecosystem in order to get players moving their entire bodies rather
than just their thumbs.
The Kinect system for Microsoft Xbox 360 has received a lot of press,
as it uses cameras to track body movements, but the system that has
probably had the greatest impact on fitness has been Nintendo’s Wii
Fit, which integrates gaming and fitness in order to present users
with a fitness programme they can follow in their homes using balance
boards and other accessories that allow the Nintendo Wii to track
their movements.
Ficcara said that although there are still some challenges when it
comes to health apps, it was something that health care professionals
should take seriously as it could have a major impact on the direction
the industry takes in the future.
“Digital technology is truly transforming. By integrating it early,
we can see better outcomes earlier,” she said.
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