Frontiers in Medicine: Advancement in Digital Medicine

Charlene invited me to attend a most interesting lecture at Scripps La Jolla in November, on the subject of the advancement in digital medicine.  I was blown away by what is just around the corner.  The evening was moderated by Dr. Steven Steinhugel, cardiologist at Scripps.  He worked with Dr. Eric Topol, formerly from Cleveland Clinic, who we are now lucky enough to have in San Diego.  The evolution of digital medicine has progressed by leaps and bounds in the past 20 years.  Super computers have gotten smaller and faster, in fact there has been a 2,400% improvement in their performance in just two years.  In the future everything will be on your smart phone.  We are so much more connected than we were just eight years ago.

Right now 61% of Americans own a smart phone, and by the year 2019, the seven billion people on the planet with own 5.6 billion smart phones.  Companies like Samsung, Google and Microsoft want to get into the health care industry.  Here are some of the ways digital medicine will be used in the future.  BP, EKG, pulse, temperature, output of CO2, glucose, oxygen saturation and respiration rate will all be monitored by  wearable sensor data.  This would be a bracelet or watch type band on your wrist.  Diabetics can constantly monitor their glucose level, and be notified when they need insulin.  Athletes can monitor their pulse, blood pressure and other vitals during workouts.  Heart patients can have immediate access to ekg's or other tests that might tell them they need doctor assistance.  High blood pressure, which accounts for 40,000,000 office visits per year, can be self monitored, medication can even be administered as needed.  In other words, health consumers will become more actively involved in gathering medical information, without the need for expensive visits to the doctor.  The information will be immediately, which will lead to more immediate treatment and possibly better results.  Shut ins who can't get to the doctor will be able to perform many important tests at home, transfer this immediately to their doctor, and be told how to proceed.

This is all very exciting to me, as we will see big changes in medicine in our lifetime.  These changes will cut costs, and lead to more efficient diagnoses and better patient care.  Dr. Eric Topol who is credited with inventing many of the initial medical uses for the cell phone, was way ahead of his time.  He has been using his smart phone to administer immediate EKG's to patients in his office, and giving them immediate results.  There will be no more waiting days for test results! 

Qualcom has partnered with Scripps in moving medicine forward.  Look for big changes to be available for us all very soon, and be prepared to become proactive in your own medical care.