You don’t have to be a futurist to recognize that we are on the verge of a medical revolution in telecommunications-enabled diagnosis and health. It's not likely that many medical device manufacturers will flock to support Scuba divers, but there may be an opportunity for us to help influence their R&D to cover some of our more unique requirements.
I thought it would be interesting to discuss these technologies. Divers increasingly travel to very remote areas of the world and can be hours or days from general medical help, let alone hyperbaric expertise. Some current and near-future innovations could be exceptionally useful to help diagnose medical conditions if that data could be remotely acquired by a layperson and transmitted. EMTs in ambulances are a good place to look for technologies that could be "dumbed down" so average divers can collect useful data.
Who would have guessed 20 years ago that AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator) would be simple and automated enough for almost anyone to read the instructions and shock someone back to life. Very minimally trained office staff in my doctor's office can take EKGs (Electrocardiography). Common laptops can be hooked up to:
One thing I would sign up for in a heartbeat is an imbedded blood pressure transducer. My hope is that repeated hyperbaric exposure won't damage the device. Sorry, but blood pressure cuffs are totally primitive and marginally accurate from an engineering viewpoint. I have an auscultatory gap so automated cuffs usually pump up until my hand turns blue and the reading is about 30 points higher than a manual blood pressure.
Logically, the same device could inexpensively monitor pulse, and temperature. This whole package and more will be an app on our cell phones one day but maybe we can help push them along in ways that can help divers too.
I thought it would be interesting to discuss these technologies. Divers increasingly travel to very remote areas of the world and can be hours or days from general medical help, let alone hyperbaric expertise. Some current and near-future innovations could be exceptionally useful to help diagnose medical conditions if that data could be remotely acquired by a layperson and transmitted. EMTs in ambulances are a good place to look for technologies that could be "dumbed down" so average divers can collect useful data.
Who would have guessed 20 years ago that AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator) would be simple and automated enough for almost anyone to read the instructions and shock someone back to life. Very minimally trained office staff in my doctor's office can take EKGs (Electrocardiography). Common laptops can be hooked up to:
- Ultrasound wands
- Digital stethoscopes
- Digital spirometer
- Automated blood pressure cuffs
- Pulse oximeters
- USB Endoscope, Otoscopes -- basically small TV cameras that can look in body orifices
- Ear/forehead thermometers
One thing I would sign up for in a heartbeat is an imbedded blood pressure transducer. My hope is that repeated hyperbaric exposure won't damage the device. Sorry, but blood pressure cuffs are totally primitive and marginally accurate from an engineering viewpoint. I have an auscultatory gap so automated cuffs usually pump up until my hand turns blue and the reading is about 30 points higher than a manual blood pressure.
Logically, the same device could inexpensively monitor pulse, and temperature. This whole package and more will be an app on our cell phones one day but maybe we can help push them along in ways that can help divers too.
