Swallowing Sensors Gives New Meaning to the Quanitifed Self

You’ve heard of wearables in healthcare technology, but have you considered swallowables? Swallowing a piece of electronics is something that people are actually willing to try.

Forrester Research’s version of of the famousVitruvian Man

Just this morning, Intel released results from a very compelling study on a range of consumer interest in electronic “wearables” and monitors. They asked people how willing they are to try:

• Wrist monitors that can monitor things like respiration, blood pressure, heart rate and more, without a cuff – you’ve seen these in Nike Fuel Band and the FitBit Flex, among others.
• Toilet sensors – you read that correctly.
• Prescription bottle sensors
• Blood pressure cuffs
• The swallowable sensor
• and more

Eric Dishman (@EricDishman) of Intel spoke with the Wall Street Journal today about the study by Intel. Watch the video below.

More than 80% of those surveyed said they were willing to share “de-identified data” to help further science and cures, so security of information is as important as ever.

70% of people expressed their belief that hospitals will become obsolete for a lot of things within time. Hospitals have been a fixture in healthcare for over 250 years. “That worked well in the 1700s, but the idea that you have to get sick and travel to a certain destination,” said Dishman, “We don’t have to do that for the vast majority of chronic care management. With smart phones, diagnostics are on you, with you and sometimes in you, to help you diagnose a condition in the home or in the more local community. “

This particular study reminded us of another study by Forrester that asked people which types of wearables they are most likely to try. In Forrester Research‘s version of of the famous Vitruvian Man, a male dressed in a business suit shows how a variety of wearable devices might became part of the modern man.

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In a world where technology is rapidly advancing and user expectations are rising, it’s no longer enough to have an average user experience; to delight your users and surpass your competition you must strive for the exceptional.

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We recently addressed the topic with our own perspectives on the “quantified self” and how healthcare providers can address this changing consumer mindset.

“The self-quantifying patient will be the solution to population health management as smart phones become ubiquitous and allow evidence-based healthcare professionals to guide medical decision making.”

In our white paper, Beyond Gamification: Revolutionizing Healthcare with the Quantified Self“, we address the challenge of keeping individuals engaged in their health through gamified healthcare applications, active/passive health data collection and action-oriented analytics.

Here is the video interview with Dishman:

Intel Poll: Technology Will Improve Healthcare