New Medical Technology Devices For Parents

When your child comes down with something, you want answers right away. You  definitely don’t want to wait sometimes days or even hours to talk to someone or get some tests. New medical technology devices are helping bridge the gap between the first sniffle and answers and solutions so your child feels better. Today, I have an expert, Robin Farmanfarmaian, to share with us more about these amazing new medical technology devices . In her new book available now on Amazon (affiliate link), “The Patient as CEO”, Robin Farmanfarmaian shines a light on the best ways to become the key decision-maker, or CEO, of one’s own healthcare. She focuses on breakthroughs in biomedical technology (wearable sensors, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics and more).

From Point of Care Diagnostics, to Telepresence Medicine, to Wearable Technology, there are a lot new medical technology devices on the market now. They can help you manage your family’s health in an easy and effective way. They can be used for preventive medicine, monitoring a chronic condition, or in times when that nasty flu bug is going around.

Examples of Medical Technology Devices For Parents

1) Point of Care Diagnostics and Connected Devices

Point of care diagnostics (POC) are tests, including medical devices and apps, that go to the patient. This is as opposed to the patient going to the test machine, device or healthcare professional. Connected devices sync up to the cloud or electronic medical record, providing somewhere for all that data to get recorded, stored, and analyzed.

One company providing many different point of care devices is iHealth. Applicable for both children and adults, iHealth has a suite of affordable products for use in the home. They can track blood pressure, pulse, blood oxygen levels, glucose, and more. The AilveCor EKG monitor is an iPhone case that tracks your EKG, FDA approved. The great thing about connected devices is that you have the option to administer them at home. Then you can send the patient’s results to the cloud, where you can share it with your healthcare professional.

2) Telepresence Medicine

Why drive to a hospital or clinic, and expose your child to all those germs? One of the least safe places to be when sick is around other, potentially contagious, patients. That’s where telepresence medicine can save a lot of time, energy, and most importantly, provide safety from other diseases. When you combine video with some of the point of care diagnostic and connected devices, the physician or nurse has a fuller picture. Ask your existing healthcare professional if their hospital system or clinic supports telepresence medicine yet. If they don’t, there are many services that can provide you with an immediate doctor or nurse via an app, using video on your computer, tablet or smartphone, such as Doctor on Demand.

3) Wearable Technology

Wearable technology is an industry that is exploding. Many health- and fitness-related technologies are easy to use, and the applications are endless. They encourage parents and children to be more engaged in their own fitness. They help modify behavior by reminding you to exercise, and provide a platform for kids, parents and physicians to share data and collaborate on health strategies.

Currently, the most popular types of wearable technology are gadgets, such as the Bellabeat, Misfit Shine, Apple Watch and Fitbit. These devices help you track and monitor sleep patterns, calorie intake, steps taken and more.

Some of these are great for older kids, and the younger set has some medical technology devises already on the market, just for them.

For ages 4-7, LeapFrog has a smart watch. Other companies I’ve seen include VTech and Orbo. These types of smart watches can get kids moving, parents can program them, and some have cameras and even blue tooth phone pairing, so your child can talk on the phone, through the watch!

Nursery 2.0

A spinout from MIT called Rest Devices is building The Nursery of the Future, and parents today can already have their first product in their own homes. Real-time monitoring of respiratory rate, temperature, activity and sleep can be done with MonBaby or the machine washable Mimo Onsie. This medical device tech means you can be out of the room and know your baby is safe, especially from all parents’ major nighttime worry: SIDS. Bonus, it can track and analyze data over time, and learn what is normal for your baby or not, by tracking exact breathes, pauses, and more.

Cool tracking technology is not limited to things you wear. Startup company Kolibree launched their connected electric toothbrush for kids at CES in January, which gamifies that bedtime ritual. Philips Sonicare also allows kids to interact with a smartphone or tablet to play a game while brushing. The game teaches good dental hygiene, can tell you what areas might get missed, and even has the option to be connected to the dentist.

Safety First

A lot of the wearable technology now come with GPS locating, especially the ones for children. What a relief to know you pinpoint your child’s exact location whenever they are wearing the watch or bracelet. The new SAFE Kids Paxie Band is currently taking pre-orders for its release. In addition to the GPS locater, it has interchangeable styles. It also monitors ambient temperature in order to help prevent heat stroke, in addition to the standard heart rate and activity tracker.  Parents have access to real-time monitoring, can be alerted if the band is removed. They can even set boundaries so you know instantly if your child has left the yard, stay inside the playground at school, and more.

If you want to read more from Robin Farmanfarmaian, check out her book “The Patient as CEO”.   You can also follow Robin on twitter @Robinff3.

One thing is for sure, there’s no limit to the number of at home monitoring devices, point of care diagnostics, video doctors, apps and wearable technology to help you safeguard your family’s health!  I hope you have enjoyed learning more about these new medical technology devices for parents.  Which one appeals to you the most?

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