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Right time, right place - new diagnostic devices


In watching advances in medical devices, it's obvious the trend is pushing devices out into patients hands. This allows diagnostic tests to happen when they are needed during the patients normal life, rather than simply at the point of care. This allows right time diagnostics.  For other patients isn't the necessity of catching a problem at the right time, but getting the diagnostic devices to where the patient is, rather than the patient coming to the diagnostics. This allow devices to be in the right place.

This is enabled by the ubiquity of smartphones - capable computers which disguise themselves as consumer communications devices. In this arena, there is a recently introduced ECG device from Sanatmetal called WIWE. It communicates via Bluetooth to the users smartphone, which provides the visual output and feedback as well as communications back to the clinicians who will use the data collected. This is a good example of creating a "Right Time" diagnostic tool. It's only a single lead ECG, but it is enough to capture a fleeting bout of cardiac arrhythmia. Often an in-clinic ECG offers no tell-tales of arrhythmia's and the other options are longer term portable monitoring (such as a Holter) and hope.

An example of a "Right Place" diagnostic tool, is a handheld colposcope for cervical screening. This is an easily portable device, that again relies on a smartphone. Cervical cancer screening and detection is much lower in places where the few fixed colposcopes are difficult for women to access. This mobile device also simplifies testing, ideally making it easier, more comfortable and less error-prone.

For details on the ECG collection device, you can see the WIWE website: http://mywiwe.com/en/
For details on the cervical screening device, see the Duke university site: http://pratt.duke.edu/about/news/ditch-the-speculum.

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