Proliferation of remote health monitoring fueled by post-COVID era, finds Strategy Analytics
Lisa Cooper of Strategy Analytics
The recent proliferation of digital health and wellness functions within the consumer wearables market has led to more attention being paid to remote healthcare monitoring solutions either through a self-managed approach or via a full-service program from a healthcare practitioner.
Further fueled by the ‘post-COVID era’, people globally are now being required to adapt to more digital modalities of care including digital healthcare, digital social activities, digital mental health support, and home-based fitness.
A new report from the Strategy Analytics’ User Experience Strategies (UXS) service, “Monitoring Health & Wellness Remotely: A Roadmap to Healthy Adoption”, investigates the current landscape of consumer healthcare devices and in the new ‘COVID era’, the UX challenges and what the future holds to address these issues.
Comments Lisa Cooper, director UXIP and report author, “We know that people want to take control of their health and prioritise health indicators in their wearables. COVID jumpstarted remote healthcare and people had to take control by becoming more accustomed to digital modalities of care. Governmental agencies also fast-tracked approvals for more consumer wearables as medical devices, so the infrastructure is developing to enable the support and promotion of remote monitoring.”
Continues Cooper, “The availability of smartwatches which pack in health and wellness functionalities is growing. These smartwatches are also starting to combine sensors that measure multiple biometrics of health including blood pressure, heartrate, electrical heart ECG, bioelectrical impedance BIA, skeletal muscle mass, basal metabolic rate, body fat, body water, sleeping, snoring, and many others. But we need to think beyond the wrist and innovate by exploring how to monitor multiple biomarkers with one easy to use passive sensor such as a skin patch something small and unobtrusive.”
Adds Kevin Nolan, VP, UXIP, “Developers need to think big and partner with academia and healthcare institutions to create easy to use passive wearables. People want to feel empowered in their own health and partner with healthcare practitioners. In turn, healthcare practitioners have been open to digital solutions but need relevant timely data and not inaccurate sensory output.”
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