Properly treating patients is a two-way street. The patient must follow prescribed treatment, and the doctor needs full transparency to make the right adjustments and determine the next steps. Despite the patients’ best efforts, the process leaves a lot of room for human error.

We research, develop and invest in modern technologies, such as sensors, IoT platforms and more, that are transforming the healthcare industry. The technology’s ability to help capture passive data will have a big impact on success.

Passive data works best

Patients are people, which means they may not have the best follow-through when it comes to their health plan, whether it involves a prescribed medication regimen or lifestyle change. And when doctors receive inaccurate or incomplete information, both parties are at risk.

Studies have shown that when patients need to follow specific directions on their own, compliance declines increasingly with each additional step, to the point that only 50% of patients take their medicine as prescribed. Lifestyle change compliance is even worse.

Medical professionals are turning to passive data collection to identify and adjust for these missteps. Connected devices record and report on relevant patient activity, helping patients stay on track and helping doctors understand individual patient routines, without interrupting them.

“Data collection and analysis of the data can change the world for the better and it will also help in improving communication between the doctors and the patients”

Transparency with technology

Connected medical devices like insulin pumps, wearable patches and mobile applications collect passive data. The devices gather and report data, like the frequency and amount of medicine taken, to the patient, family member or prescribing doctor. Patients aren’t always forthcoming when they stray from a prescribed plan or medicine. Passive data collection in connected devices is an option for more precise and transparent treatment.

Bringing the doctor to your home

Passive data systems make it possible for patients to continue normal daily activities without stopping to manually log information. For example, when a patient that needs to be closely tracked injects their prescribed drug, the doctor could automatically receive a digital record without additional effort from the patient. With technology-enabled home drug delivery systems, care providers could allow patients to self-administer a highly regulated drug in the privacy of their homes. Technology will do its part by examining compliance and dosing in the doctor’s absence.

Data management made easy

Partner platforms healthcare professionals navigate the complexities of data management and secure sensitive information. Such platforms also evaluate how to extract value from the massive volumes of data that devices are pulling.

Using algorithms to interpret the data, draw logical conclusions and provide meaningful, actionable next steps gives physicians more insight. With more insight, they are able to improve client outcomes. It also helps patients make more informed decisions about their health.

Partner with the experts

Many companies may know how to manufacture the devices, but they don’t always have the resources to scale production or work with global markets. Sometimes they lack critical design knowledge, like what connectivity technology is best suited for their product or how to design for manufacturability. Companies such as Flex who provide Sketch-to-Scale® solutions, have the expertise to produce high-quality, fully connected, high-performance devices through knowledge gained from the work they have done across geographies.

Technology in many ways can help better our lives and it aids in making our lives easier and more secure. With the introduction of certain healthcare apps alongside wearables, people can monitor multiple things such as blood pressure and pulse among others, independent of visiting a hospital. It also results in multiple benefits both for the patient and also for the doctor/ hospital, according to the Digital Health Ecosystem research report from Business Insider Intelligence.

In the healthcare sector, one of the biggest challenges in data collection is access to data that is consistent as well as reliable. Data collection allows the health systems to provide the views of patients, enhance health outcomes and personalize treatments. It could also be a critical component in developing preventive measures to guard against lifestyle related, negative health conditions.

Data collection in the pharmacy practice offers benefits in patient care and in healthcare business operations as well. Now-a-days, Pharmaceutical companies are deploying smart devices to gather large quantities of data which is beneficial for the pharma companies as well as the patients.

Please find below some of the advantages Pharma companies will have from data collection:

• Improved communications

• Reduced cost, enhance quality and efficiency

• Better diseases understanding

• Healthy pipeline and better products

• Patient sentiments and feedbacks

• Real-world patient data

• Track of patient pathway and drug switches

• Detection of serious adverse events

• Identification of undiagnosed patients

• Customized drug development

• Predication of hospital re-admissions

• Improved HO and medical forecasting

• Comparative effectiveness

• Track of patient pathway and drug switches

• Prediction of disease trends and locations

Data collection and analysis of the data can change the world for the better and it will also help in improving communication between the doctors and the patients. Therefore, we should implement data collection in the healthcare sector for the betterment of our lives.