It would be challenging to find anyone saying technology has not had a significant impact on the healthcare space, but how are patients and surgeons leveraging this technology for mutual benefit? One need look no further than their pocket.

Globally, there has been a significant increase in the number of digital patient monitoring devices (Table 1). In fact, the market for these technologies is predicted to grow more than 26% year-over-year to be close to $1.5 trillion by 2033.¹ In addition, 71% are expected to be diagnostic monitoring devices,1 which are “used to diagnose and monitor the vital parameters derived from the body.”² The remaining 29% are considered therapeutic monitoring devices,1 which “encompass a variety of tools such as web-based applications using computer vision to track patient movement and therapy compliance, wearable sensors to monitor vital data like blood pressure and heart rate, smartphone apps that keep tabs on activity levels and pain, and telehealth platforms enabling virtual patient-doctor consultations.”³ It is also anticipated wearable devices will comprise approximately one-third of the digital patient monitoring devices market.¹

Benefits in leveraging the development and availability of therapeutic monitoring options have been demonstrated in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) where they “include reduced physical therapy visits, decreased pain scores and reliance on opioids, increased activity levels as assessed by step counts, increased ability to follow less well-performing patients, reduced readmissions, reduced in-person clinic visits, and decreased postoperative costs.”⁴ These benefits all reflect the improvements clinicians are seeing related to patient outcomes and/or the reduction of the cost of care.

In 2022, cross-geographic research investigated the use of wearable technology after orthopedic trauma surgery. They gathered responses from 333 clinical respondents from 79 countries who were already utilizing wearable technology as part of their clinical practice.⁵ Respondents were asked to choose areas where wearables could theoretically be used compared to where they were already using them. Clinicians most often used monitoring to learn about kinematic parameters and accelerometry data for their patients, even though the hypothetical use of devices for monitoring general activity was ranked the highest, illustrating the interest in capturing more focused data versus generalized data (Table 2).

In this study, more than 20% of the respondents were already using wearables for their patient care, leveraging smartphones, simple accelerometers, or pedometers. The authors indicated that while smartphones were a key technology used to monitor patients, they had not often been cited in the clinical literature to date, however, “our analysis confirms that the smartphone is the tool most used by surgeons currently, as well as the tool most envisioned as a potential wearable by clinicians that are currently not using wearables.”⁵

READ MORE: The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Orthopedics

Following this study, a review of 24 publications related to smartphone monitoring for postoperative recovery in TKA patients showed improvements were achievable when monitoring patients through wearable, connected smartphones.⁶ These findings highlight the need to understand not only the clinical parameters to monitor but also the ease of use for the patients to utilize the tools at hand.

Sean Yu, Ph.D., MBA, chief architect at Simbex, has been designing and developing sensor technology for over 20 years in both the academic and private sectors. Dr. Yu’s experience with wearables and patient-centered technology has informed his perspectives on some of the new technologies that are nearing the market. “While many companies are building intricate tools with incremental improvements to integrate into wearable medical devices, the more successful executions are developing products and services that are not only innovative but addressing a clinical unmet need. It’s even more critical to integrate them seamlessly with the workflow or patient’s day-to-day lives,” he said.

Using smartphone-enabled wearable technologies may be the path forward to not only take advantage of the significant benefits at hand but also allow greater ease of use for the patients who need them.

MedTech Strategies’ Perspective

Clarity around not only the type of data gathered but also the ease of use for the patient will determine the ability of wearable technologies to collect the appropriate volume and quality of data to impact patient outcomes. Performing primary research with patient groups will help inform developers of the most efficient way to gather and transmit data seamlessly to their healthcare providers and it might just be through their smartphones. 

References

1. tinyurl.com/odt240701
2. tinyurl.com/odt240702
3. tinyurl.com/odt240703
4. tinyurl.com/odt240704
5. tinyurl.com/odt240705
6. tinyurl.com/odt240706

Ilsa Webeck has over 25 years of work experience assessing commercial and market viability in the medtech space. After founding MedTech Strategies in 2014, she has worked with a wide range of organizations focused on assessing commercial fit and identifying product and service value propositions, as well as uncovering customer/user needs to understand a path to commercial success. Her past experiences include group product director at J&J’s DePuy Spine, leading the strategic marketing and upstream marketing team, and associate director for global commercial strategy in the MS Franchise at Biogen Idec. For more information, visit www.medtechstrategiesllc.com.