Digital Health: Mobile Devices, Wearables, Telehealth, Telemedicine
Preparing for her run, Susan tightened her fitness watch on her wrist. After experiencing and having received treatment for a heart arrhythmia, Susan was encouraged to wear the watch that not only would alert her if she experienced an irregular heartbeat, but the device would also report the findings to her medical team. Susan felt comfortable going on her run, knowing her device would monitor her heart.
Digital health has changed how patients monitor their health. These advancements have allowed patients to take an active role with increased control and agency over their healthcare and well-being. Digital health has also allowed patients to communicate with healthcare providers in different ways that help to facilitate ongoing, continuous, and real-time conversations that lead to data-informed treatment approaches and healthcare plans. Thus, these advancements have shifted and changed how healthcare is offered and practiced both for the patient and healthcare provider.
For this Discussion, you will explore the use of digital health in healthcare organizations and nursing practice. Reflect on the use, implementation, and the barriers for digital health and consider how these devices have changed, or will continue to change, healthcare organizations and nursing practice.
Resources
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
Learning Resources
· Devi, D. H., Duraisamy, K., Armghan, A., Alsharari, M., Aliqab, K., Sorathiya, V., Das, S., & Rashid, N. (2023).
5G technology in healthcare and wearable devices: A reviewLinks to an external site..
Sensors (14248220) ,
23 (5), 2519.
· Raza, M. M., Venkatesh, K. P., & Kvedar, J. C. (2023).
Promoting racial equity in Digital Health: Applying a cross-disciplinary equity frameworkLinks to an external site..
Npj Digital Medicine, 6(1).
· Yang, X., Wang, X., Li, X., Gu, D., Liang, C., Li, K., Zhang, G., & Zhong, J. (2020).
Exploring emerging IoT technologies in smart health research: A knowledge graph analysisLinks to an external site..
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 20 , 260.
· Wu, M., & Luo, J. (2019).
Wearable technology applications in healthcare: A literature review Links to an external site.
. HIMSS.
to an external site.
·
Document:
Sample Presentation Template (PowerPoint)
Download Sample Presentation Template (PowerPoint)
· ZEBRA Technologies. (n.d.).
The future of healthcare: 2022 Hospital vision study: Mobile technology elevates patient care, empowers clinicians and enhances workflows Links to an external site.
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To Prepare
· Review the Learning Resources associated with digital health.
· Consider the use, implementation, and barriers of digital health for healthcare organizations and nursing practice.
By Day 3 of Week 6
Post a cohesive response to the following:
· Choose one digital innovation (examples: telehealth, wearables, digital devices).
· What challenges and opportunities have arisen in your healthcare organization or nursing practice while adopting a digital innovation? Please share your experiences and any key insights from these implementations.
By Day 6 of Week 6
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and
respond to
at least two of your colleagues on
two different days. Expand upon your colleague’s posting or offer an alternative perspective on the use of digital health.
RESPOND TO THIS DISCUSSION POST
by Ann Fu
Digital Innovation and Health
The directions to choose one telehealth, wearable, or digital devices is a limitation and asking too much of me because the topic is so interesting. It would be interesting to discuss all these categories, but I will follow the instructions for a full discussion after writing an introductory paragraph. Telehealth has been useful in my personal life. It is time saving and allows me to ask the questions I need to without being incumbered by the drive and the preparation time.
I intend to use telehealth to supplement my practice after obtaining an APRN license. At issue for APRNs is that they have yet to have compact in place (Garber & Chike-Harris, 2019). The patient and practitioner must live in the same state. It will be useful for supplementing counseling appoints but it will not take the place of in-person appointments. My practice is based on relationship and the older population is yet to be comfortable with telehealth (Sipes, 2025). One of the state universities offers a telehealth certificate so I will take that class so I will be well acquainted with the state regulations and HIPAA regulations.
Wearables
Wearable health monitoring rings, watches, and Muse for bio feedback and meditation, which records brain waves, sleep cycles, and hours of sleep are useful for health monitoring. The device that I use tracks my intake, keeps track of my movement and allows me to track general health outcomes with continuous recordings.
Additionally, I can track lab work, emergency contacts and other emergency data that emergency services would need to access. The quality of devices may have electronics that lack qualities and are less than accurate. This makes it important to review wearables carefully for their accuracy and coordinate your efforts with your physician when possible. I buy from professional companies and have also had accuracy problems with those instruments. Some brands are more accurate than others and those which are more accurate are also more expensive. These devices are gaining in accuracy. Pulse oximetry has accuracy issues that the industry has not been able to iron out for 20 plus years of which I am aware. Dark skinned people cannot depend on oximetry values because of the technology with which they are armed
Devi (2023)
.
Devices include heart monitors, continuous saturation monitors used to help diagnose cardiac status and sleep apnea. These are not new to the market. Holter monitors and polysomnography or continuous pulse oximetry have been a part of diagnostics for 15 to 20 years. Both are accurate for the most part. In the context of testing for sleep apnea the accuracy is much better because it supports client comfort therefore more representative of reality. Other devices include continuous blood sugar monitoring that send data to smart phones and are capable of relaying data to a collection point, according to Wu and Luo (2019).
Wearable Safety Device
Safety devices are available in various forms, including wristbands, key chains, necklaces, and hair ornaments. In this case the wearer will need to buy a subscription from a security company. The wearer can also program the device for connection to several friends. This is particularly interesting and helps those that travel alone or are inclined to be engaged in solitary workout routines at odd times of the day. The device is called Invisawear. and it can be found at Invisawear.com
Wearables and Research
Wearables are useful for researchers. One of my colleagues runs a massage and reiki practice where she works and is often engaged in integrative nursing research. Recently one of her clients had a particularly grueling day and made a drop-in appointment. A day later he thought to send her his Oura ring print-out as a before and after treatment record. Holistic nurses look for ways to do research that examines psychoneuroimmunology factors. It is also important to be aware of how therapeutic interventions affect the practitioner. If she buys an wears Oura ring for herself, we can set up quantitative research studies. Prior to this, researchers have not been able to effectively monitor patients and the practitioners synchronously. (Personal communication, Fink, KAE, February 15, 2025).
Security
Security of data is a major concern when using any form of technology because data is sent across the internet so HIPAA may be an issue based on how data is encryption. Reading the privacy notes is a key to being safe.
References
Devi, D., Duraisamy, K., Armghan, A., Alsharari, M., Aliqab, K., Sorathiya, V., Das, S., & Rashid, N. (2023). 5g technology in healthcare and wearable devices: A review.
Sensors,
23(5), 2519.
Links to an external site.
Garber, K. M., & Chike-Harris, K. E. (2019). Nurse practitioners and virtual care: A 50-state review of aprn telehealth law and policy.
Telehealth and Medicine Today,
4, 2–8.
to an external site.
Sipes, C. (2023).
Project management for the advanced practice nurse (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing LLC.
to an external site.
Wu, M., & Luo, J. (2019).
Wearable technology applications in healthcare: A literature review. HIMSS.
to an external site.
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