One of the most important and exciting recent developments in healthcare is the ability to be more proactive around monitoring health conditions by allowing the patient to take more control. This is now possible because medical devices have become simpler to use and more affordable – it’s possible for many testing or monitoring processes to be done by the patient at home rather than requiring a visit to see a doctor.
Empowering Patients: How Visual Support Enhances Medical Device Usage
This is a liberating change and it helps to support improved healthcare. Instead of scheduling a regular check, regardless of how the patient is feeling, the monitor can help the patient to understand exactly when they might need to call for medical assistance and when it is not required. Monitoring at home can also create an early warning system.
Revolutionizing Chronic Disease Management with Visual Support
The management of chronic disease has been completely transformed by this approach and each year brings a new array of smart devices that can help patients with conditions such as diabetes. Glucose monitors now allow a patient to continuously monitor their blood glucose without the need to endlessly prick their finger for a blood test.
Patients can constantly monitor their heart rhythm using a personal ECG system. For anyone with a potential heart problem this can provide a very early warning that the heart is not functioning correctly. All these systems used to require a visit to a clinic or hospital.
Reducing Medical Device Downtime with Real-Time Visual Assistance
Allowing patients to use these diagnostic systems does offer them more freedom and allows the medical professional to be alerted immediately when there is a potential risk. However, it does rely on the patient being able to use and manage the device or system.
These are often quite complex devices that need regular calibration or checks. Although they are simple enough to be used at home by patients, they do still malfunction and this can be confusing for the patient and expensive for the health provider or insurance company that is responsible for the device.
The Case for Visual Support as a Default for Medical Devices
In many cases it will be too difficult to diagnose and fix a problem with the patient on the phone. They are not a specialist, so if the device needs anything more complex than a reboot then it means the company needs to send a courier to collect it – and swap it for a replacement device. The cost adds up.
In many cases this will be unnecessary. If the patient could show the device to a knowledgeable support agent with a real-time visual link then it is highly likely that the agent can walk the patient through the steps needed to resolve the issue. Then the need to send a replacement device is eliminated and the patient feels happier because their problem was immediately resolved – rather than having to wait for a delivery truck to arrive.
Enhancing Patient Support with Visual Troubleshooting for Medical Devices
Visual support for medical devices should be the default. Patients can’t describe how an electronic device is malfunctioning on a phone call and they certainly can’t be expected to troubleshoot a medical device they don’t understand.
A visual connection with patients using these devices can create the opportunity to drastically reduce the number of devices that need to be swapped out just because the patient can’t figure out why it’s not working.
What you think about more visual solutions for healthcare devices?
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