One of the main trends in healthcare in recent years is the increased accumulation and use of data of different sorts. This trend is common not only for the healthcare industry, as big data easily find use anywhere. However, I believe that healthcare is a field where the amount of data and the number of ways to use it will only continue proliferating.
For instance, wearables, such as Apple Watch, are becoming more and more technically advanced, which lets them be beneficial in numerous spheres, healthcare being one of those. These days, people with such wearables can collect data on their sleep, activity, heart rhythms, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, temperature, and much more. Users can learn more about their health themselves, but they can also use their devices to share real-time information with health professionals. I believe that the further development of data processing and automatization will include constant synchronization and adaptation of patient’s health data from various wearables with healthcare facilities in real-time.
Regarding Gidden’s attributes of healthcare quality, individual health monitoring devices can improve the quality of healthcare considering such criteria as Patient-Centered Care, Timeliness, and Efficiency (Giddens, 2021). Health monitoring wearables can make healthcare services timelier by reducing the amount of testing necessary for a patient, as real-time data will be available immediately. Regarding patient-centered care, wearables are great in customization; thus, their broader implementation in the healthcare industry can make services more responsive to patients’ preferences and needs. Finally, efficiency can be increased as personal gadgets can at least partially replace some of the time and resource-consuming medical procedures, such as diagnostic tests. Therefore, I believe that the overall impact of the observed trend can be positive as it demonstrates the potential to improve healthcare services within some of Gidden’s criteria.
Reference
Giddens, J.F. (2021). Concepts for nursing practice (3rd ed.). Elsevier, Inc.