Smartwatches have opened the door to a new era of healthcare. By reliably tracking heart rate, blood oxygen level, respiratory rate, and other key health metrics, smartwatches empower patients to play an active role in monitoring their health.
But empowering patients was just the start. Smartwatches and other wearable devices have also given physicians powerful new capabilities for continuous, convenient patient monitoring. Integrating wearable devices with telehealth allows physicians to monitor patient health in real-time, improving responsiveness and care quality.
Lyndsay Dymowski Constantino – President, Centennial Pharmacy Services
Improving Outcomes with Continuous Health Monitoring
Traditional healthcare revolves around periodic checkups. When a patient is diagnosed with a condition, they are put on an appointment schedule determined by doctors to provide adequate monitoring for their unique circumstances. If conditions deteriorate between appointments, physicians count on patients to notice and reach out.
Integrating wearable devices with telehealth upgrades this model by enabling continuous health monitoring. Patient health metrics are captured automatically and transmitted to physicians in real-time. If a patient’s condition changes, doctors can respond immediately — often before the patient notices any symptoms.
Advances in medical technology have expanded the range of available wearables. Microfluidic patches, for example, track electrolytes, glucose, hormones, and other substances in sweat. Similarly, epidermal technology involves ultrathin, flexible devices applied directly to the skin to track vitals and deliver medication in non-invasive ways.
Improving Outcomes with Early Detection
Real-time monitoring enables physicians to respond immediately to sudden and serious health changes. But it also improves early detection of less obvious health shifts.
Noticing subtle fluctuations over time increases the chances of early detection. By increasing the amount of health data collected, wearables make it easier for physicians to spot patterns that indicate a patient’s health is changing. Instead of relying on monthly checkups, physicians now have hourly — or even more frequent — data points to guide care decisions.
Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) further enhances early detection. AI can automatically analyze wearable data and alert healthcare providers when it detects concerning trends, allowing them to intervene promptly.
Improving Outcomes with Personalized Care
Two patients diagnosed with the same condition can have very different needs. Wearable data allows physicians to identify those needs and develop personalized care regimens designed to deliver better outcomes.
Wearable data helps fine-tune medication dosages and other treatments to ensure patients receive maximum benefits with minimal side effects. It can also inform customized physical therapy programs and dietary plans.
Enhanced personalization is especially valuable for patients with comorbidities, where multiple conditions complicate diagnosis and treatment. Real-time monitoring provides valuable insights into how different conditions and treatments interact, enabling more effective care planning.
Improving Outcomes By Encouraging Better Adherence
Poor adherence to treatment plans is a significant driver of poor health outcomes. A 2018 study reported by US Pharmacist suggested that nonadherence accounts for up to 50% of treatment failures, approximately 125,000 deaths, and 25% of hospitalizations in the U.S. each year.
Wearables promote accountability, helping to improve adherence. If patients skip medication or therapy exercises, their physicians can detect this through wearable data and follow up to provide guidance and encouragement.
Wearables also motivate patients by allowing them to see the impact of their treatment. When patients follow their regimen, they can see improvements in their vital signs. If they don’t, they may notice signs of decline — reinforcing the importance of adherence.
The Future of Wearable Integration in Healthcare
Wearables add a valuable component to telehealth services, and studies show that between 76% and 90% of patients are willing to use them to share their personal medical data. With most patients open to sharing wearable data, now is the time for physicians to embrace this technology and improve patient care.
Byline: Lindsay Dymowski Constantino – President, Centennial Pharmacy Services
Lindsay Dymowski Constantino is the President of Centennial Pharmacy Services, a leading long-term care-at-home pharmacy, and co-founder of LTC@Home Pharmacy Companies, which supports the pharmacy and broader healthcare industries by providing long-term care pharmacy services in the home setting. With over 15 years of experience in the pharmacy field and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Lindsay enables better health outcomes through patient-centric care and has a deep understanding of what drives successful pharmacies beyond medication dispensing.
