Augmented Reality In Healthcare: 9 Examples – This And More News In Digital Health This Week
Bertalan Meskó, MD, PhD
Director of The Medical Futurist Institute (Keynote Speaker, Researcher, Author & Futurist)
In our previous newsletter, we wrote how we collected trends over the past weeks and got to the point of collecting the biggest pharma companies' digital health incentives.
In the second part of our series, we explore how Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, AbbVie, Sanofi & Bristol Myers Squibb are extending their digital health reaches, from the tech-friendly and the conservative to the one constantly looking for possible new areas to explore. Ultimately, we can say it is encouraging to see companies taking steps towards promoting patient advocacy - which is itself a major component of the cultural transformation for effective digital health strategies.
Check out our article on the second instalment of big pharma companies here!
More In This Newsletter: FDA releases 'guiding principles' for AI/ML device development; Facebook releases fitness accessories for its Oculus headsets; The unexpected health impacts of wearable tech – check out this week’s newsletter below!
Take care,
Berci
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a list of "guiding principles" this week aimed at helping promote the safe and effective development of medical devices that use artificial intelligence and machine learning. The agency says stakeholders can use the principles to tailor and adopt good practices from other sectors to be used in the health tech sector, as well as to create new specific practices.
The ten principles, from how users shall receive clear, essential information to data to be based upon best available methods are intended to take bias out of algorithmic programming and to overcome misleading datasets – much-needed guidance from the FDA. Kudos!
Facebook has been interested in healthcare for some time. The company is clearly continuing to explore the fitness space as it’s looking to further position its virtual reality technology, the Oculus Quest 2, in the fitness space. Most recently, it announced a fitness accessory. The new pack is designed to help customers use the VR headset more comfortable when working out.
More and more non-healthcare companies discover their new ways in healthcare. However, I do not share Mark Zuckerberg’s optimism on VR glasses – there simply aren’t enough devices on the market yet and I don’t see it change in the future anytime soon.
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More and more people bring their data from wearables and trackers to their doctors. Smartwatches made by Apple, Fitbit, Withings, Samsung, and other companies have features specific to the fields of cardiology, sleep medicine, and sports medicine, and over the past decade, the devices became impossible for doctors to ignore. The Verge asked cardiologists, sleep doctors, and sports physicians how all of that data influences their interactions with patients. For better or for worse, they know it’s here to stay.
I've been using wearable health trackers for over a decade. There are still many issues with them from Bluetooth connections to causing anxiety or cyberchondria, but I have never had doubts that I would always live with a health wearable. As I regularly discussed results with my GP, I had to admit: those technologies that improve the doctor-patient relationship are on the right track.
MORE NEWS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE
HEART DISEASE PREVENTION – Bayer, One Drop launch AI tool for heart disease prevention
MEDICAL IMAGING – Detector Advance Could Lead to Cheaper, Easier Medical Scans
And that’s that for now! Find me on my other channels: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and get more insights on The Medical Futurist website. If you want to support our work, please do so on Patreon 🙌
Thank you,
Berci