WebPT Blog - mobile health
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5 CommentsJul 5, 2012| Charlotte Bohnett
We all want to lead a healthy lifestyle but can too much technology be problematic? This past Tuesday, Erica and I covered 12 personal health monitoring devices for the health 2.0 lifestyle. In today’s post, let’s talk about real user experience: the good, the bad, and the gimmicky.
In an article posted on AllThingsD.com, Andy Smith, CEO of IAC-owned DailyBurn, told reporter Lauren Goode that today’s fitness tracking devices border on gimmicks: “I feel like these are not quite a gimmick, but are close to it...You get people to spend $100 to $150 bucks on something that’s just a glorified accelerometer—which, by the way, you have in your phone, too.”
Smith’s company, the Daily Burn (once upon a time known as Gyminee), is a fitness-data-tracking company that pivoted to focus primarily on fitness content because data tracking just wasn’t all that effective. -
Jul 3, 2012| Charlotte Bohnett
A healthy lifestyle is hard to achieve without accountability, and what better way to hold yourself accountable than with the latest, greatest, wifi and social-enabled gadgetry on the market? Here, fellow copywriter Erica and I break down 12 products—ranging from full wellness to just sleep—that offer super slick devices with corresponding, user-friendly management programs.
Complete Health & Wellness
FitBit is the ultimate health and wellness monitoring system. It’s comprehensive, cohesive, and affordable. A wifi-enabled scale tracks weight, body fat percentage, and BMI, and a personal monitoring device tracks everyday steps, stairs climbed, calories burned, heart rate, and sleeping habits. Both transmit data to a personalized dashboard, accessible online and through a mobile app, where you can track meals, workouts, and share with friends on social media sites. Mind blown yet? Well, throw in a yearly membership fee and you can also get in-depth analytical reporting, personal training, peer rankings, and detailed tracking capabilities.
Jawbone UP is FitBit minus the scale, and instead of a USB-shaped clip-on monitoring device, the UP device is an inconspicuous, sleek bracelet. Me rambling on in prose about Jawbone UP is a complete disservice to their marketing. Check out their introductory video, which summarizes UP in very pretty nutshell. -
May 8, 2012| Lindsay Bayuk
Have you been captivated by the evolution of patient-centric health? The broader scope of eHealth, mHealth, and digital health (in its beginning stages) is exciting to watch. However, the concept of a truly “plugged in” healthcare system is far from reality. Still, groups like the Center for Connected Health are pushing the industry forward.
Pioneering founder, Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, and his center are driving the tech-enabled, patient-centric vision. Recently, Discovery.com featured Dr. Kvedar, along with the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, in a Health IT segment. There, he discussed advancements in remote patient monitoring that are critical to cost savings and more importantly, saving lives. The short web video highlights elderly patients who monitored their health daily with devices from home. Those daily stats are then automatically transmitted to an RN who looks for any warning signs and can quickly respond if necessary—high tech and user-friendly!
Similarly, GE Healthcare just got approval from the FDA to launch an app for radiologists to remotely review computed tomography and magnetic resonance on iPads. This use of mobile devices by doctors as well as remote monitoring of patients at home both show that “the line between consumer and enterprise devices continues to blur.”
