Wearables and Wearable Data in Tele-Health Applications

Author

Jack MazzaFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2021

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Computer and Information Science

First Advisor

Charles Walter

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

With the sudden emergence of Covid-19, Tele-Health has been forced into the forefront of healthcare. With no human contact, regular in-person doctor or clinic visits could not be made. Unfortunately, there is a gap in patient data for healthcare professionals when making diagnoses remotely. Fortunately, many users are constantly collecting some primary health data through wearables that have become commonplace in users' homes. Tapping into this unused data could provide healthcare professionals with a better picture of patients' health remotely. In this thesis, I will determine whether this wearable data can be a viable addition to Tele-Health applications, providing additional information to healthcare professionals when making a diagnosis remotely.

I hypothesize that wearable data would help patients and healthcare professionals in Tele-Health applications. To that end, I distributed an online survey to medical professionals at the University of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Respondents were asked a series of questions about Tele-Health, if they wore wearable devices, trusted the data gathered from said devices, if they would recommend wearables to patients, and use the data to make diagnosis decisions. The results showed overwhelmingly that healthcare professionals believe wearable technology could greatly aid the Tele-Health communications process for both patients and healthcare workers alike. The addition of the data could help many diagnoses be more accurate and give patients better care. Overall, wearable data has a promising future in aiding Tele-Health for many years to come.

Comments

Research looking into the viability of the addition to wearable data in the field of Tele-Health

Recommended Citation

Mazza, Jack, "Wearables and Wearable Data in Tele-Health Applications" (2021). Honors Theses. 1607.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1607

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.