SensNews June 2020

Sensor100 2020 18 In a recent Linked survey, 70% of respondents indicated they thought this telemedicine trend would continue, while 30% thought not. Sensor100 is somewhere in the middle, believing that some features of telemedicine will survive the pandemic, but there will also be a tendency to revert to face to face medicine. “I think a lot of it will remain this way after this crisis,” said Beccy Baird, a senior fellow at the King’s Fund, a health care research charity.“What’s really key is that we don’t lose patients’ ongoing relationships with a group of professionals at their home practice.” Sensors forTelemedicine In the UK, a frequent complaint of GP consultations is that the doctor spends all of the precious allotted 10 minutes looking at a computer mon- itor; he/she doesn't look at the patient and is unlikely to touch them! This is an over exaggeration but in the case of a telephone or visual consulta- tion, what information can be made available easily? Most homes will have a thermometer and bathroom scales for weight measurement, some will have a blood pressure monitor, and diabetics will have a glucose monitor; mobile phones can be used to photograph skin lesions and rashes. The worried well will likely have every available home health gadget including Apple and/or FitBit watches, while the elderly and chronically sick can be provided with home monitors for respiration, BP, falls etc. Other simple smart phone additions include O 2 sat and ECG monitors. A variety of home tests are available in the private healthcare market which often require the blood/urine/feces sample to be sent to a central laboratory for reading and interpretation. Smartphone attach- ments are available to read dipsticks, and convert phones to stethoscopes and opthalmoscopes, but only digital health enthusiasts are likely to own these if and when a GP appointment is needed. STETH IO Smartphone stethoscope Price $199