Supervisors info:
Δημήτριος Βέργαδος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πληροφορικής, Πανεπιστήμιο Πειραιώς
Άγγελος Μιχάλας, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Μηχανικών Πληροφορικής, ΤΕΙ Δυτικής Μακεδονίας
Θεόδωρος Μαριόλης-Σαψάκος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Νοσηλευτικής, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: Wearables and implantable devices or electronics have quickly entered the digital health field with various biomedical applications, including monitoring and recording people's vital signs in order to improve their health and family. Some of these technologies become part of everyday life in the form of accessories such as smart watches, armbands and glasses. Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the literature on the application of medical devices and modern technologies in the field of health both in the countries of Europe and in Greece. Methodology: This paper is a review of the literature. The bibliography was searched at pubmed, google, and google scholar. Key words: wearable devices, wearable medical devices, smartphones, smart cards, healthcare either individually or in combination, inserting the word AND. No time limit was set. Results: Wearables are often used to track a user's vital signs or data related to health and fitness, location, or even emotional display. One of the key features of portable technology is the ability to connect to the internet, allowing data to be exchanged between a network and the device. Portable performance devices and sensors are made more easily available to the general population and sports teams to monitor operational movements, workloads and biometric markers to maximize performance and minimize injuries. Other wearers found were motion sensors such as pacemakers, accelerometers / gyroscopes and GPS satellite navigation devices. Physical sensors include heart rate meters, sleep detectors, temperature sensors, and built-in sensors. In many countries there are smart cards, which have built-in microprocessors and contain important information about the person holding them, both biometric features and health data. Portable devices that provide remote monitoring systems can mitigate patients' access issues, especially for those in rural areas, reducing workplace casualties and the workload of health professionals. There are a number of smart health-limiting applications such as OpenAPS - closed loop insulin, glucose monitoring, monitoring of activity during cancer treatment, connected inhalers, sensors consumed, contact lenses, Apple's anti-depression monitoring application, coagulation tests with a Bluetooth-enabled system, Apple's ResearchKit software for managing arthritis, Project Blue Sky for Parkinson's disease. Conclusions: The review of this bibliography has shown that in many countries of the world there are many wearable devices used in the health sector. These devices mainly concern the monitoring of patients' vital functions and their kinetic status. The benefit of using these devices is multidimensional. In Greece, however, the use of handheld devices is at an early stage and needs further development.
Keywords:
Wearable devices, Internet of things, Health care, Smart card, Smart health
