Digital Medicine from a Distance

In case you haven't noticed, our country has been getting more and more wireless. We can surf the net, send email, even play video games from a wireless phone from just about anywhere. So why is it that in the case of a medical emergency, we always have to go to the doctor?

I suppose that is an obvious question. There are some things that the doctor can only do face-to-face. However, technology is making it so that it is possible to receive medical help from a distance.

For example, an Indian designer named Sarvanan Nagasundaram has come up with a Bluetooth Band-Aid. This device can be slapped on an injured person, and all vital information such as blood type and allergies. This designer has also come up with a matching electronic pad that receives the info from the Bluetooth Band-Aid and displays it for a paramedic.

The Bluetooth Band-Aid line (for lack of a better word) also includes a capsule that can monitor blood sugar levels and even inject life saving medications. I don't know if that does that by remote control, or anything. In other words, do you ingest the capsule and it knows what medicine to give you? Since the Bluetooth Band-Aid products are still in development, I'm afraid I don't have the answers to that. It would not surprise me if the technology was already available, though.

There is another product from a New Zealand firm Zephyr that uses "smart textiles" to analyze physiology from a distance. The chest-worn bioharness and shoe pad insert are designed with the military in mind, so that soldiers' superior officers can examine the troops' vital signs. One of the military uses is that it will allow the soldiers' commanders to see how well they are responding to combat stress. I'm guessing that an increased heart rate means not very well.

I'm thinking that the future of medicine will be digital. I'm seeing an age where doctors spend less time with the patient, and simply wait for a patient's information to be transmitted. From there, they can prescribe treatment, or ask the patient to come in, but only if it is absolutely necessary. These office treatments will probably become fewer as webcams and digital camera technology gets more an more advanced. Soon all a doctor will need to do is sit in front of a display and tell you how to perform your own surgery.