I’ve seen the future and I love it. Rumor has it that FitBit (www.fitbit.com) is coming out with a new device. Fitbit, for those not in the know, makes a pedometer, accelerometer, altimeter combination device complete with social networking. It measures the number of steps I take per day, the number of miles walked, flights of stairs climbed, calories burned, and overall activity level. I find it a good way to make sure I get enough basic exercise. To walk enough even if I’ve spent all day in front of this monitor, and to pat myself on the back when, after a long day of golf, I’ve really worked out. Whew, that was tough!
This new device from Fitbit allows the user to separate the working guts of the device from its housing so the user can, among other, sew it on clothing or attach it to a show lace. It is small, self powered, and can sync wirelessly to phone/computer/internet. It can be used within as well as outside of it’s protective case.
I think this will usher in a revolution of sorts. Other devices that acquire information passively from the wearer (think vital sign devices of all sorts) will begin to appear in the market. Certainly, they will all begin to go wireless.
What these devices don’t do however is allow the user to enter a message explaining why there was a great deal of activity or no activity. The inclusion of this technology will lead to improved utility of these devices. A great improvement will allow user note taking so that, for example, when I work out hard, I could enter a note that I did it ‘playing golf’ for example. In this case, years later, I’d remember that my golf game was the cause of my high activity level on that day.
Many other uses of this concept immediately come to mind. The person wearing a passive vital sign monitoring device could add a message to their data set matched to a specific reading. ‘My (fill in the measurement) was out of range cause (fill in the blank). I ran out of meds’, might be an explanation for an aberrant reading if it happens infrequently. While this is a bad example, it is intended to make the point. This is not a suggestion.
The reason for this is simple. Most of us can remember why today’s readings are out of range. But will we remember the reason next week, month, or year? Likely not. The current generation of devices will need to be replaced sooner or later and you can expect to begin seeing these devices, whether you enter the data from your iPhone and into an app or directly into the device.
In many cases, this enhancement could be made with existing devices just by adding an additional level of secure messaging between patient and doctor. Of course, why stop here. Just add a priority message management system so that under certain conditions a message could be escalated and sent to a health care provider for immediate follow up
