Innovation will always be important to the long-term success of the healthcare industry. We are going to show a few innovations in healthcare that make a real difference, such as improving the quality of patient care and making people’s lives better.
Health and wellness is the number one priority across the world. Any changes to existing systems or new products that come along can vastly improve the success rate and efficiency of treatment options.
Even small changes can make a big impact on people’s lives – and innovation is the heartbeat of every improvement to the healthcare industry. Without researchers and companies making the efforts, we wouldn’t have many of the outstanding products and services today.
Here are some amazing examples of innovations in healthcare.
At-Home Health Testing Kit
Let’s start with something you can use at home. An innovative company called has come up with the idea of an at-home health testing kit. This can be used to check if you are suffering from a number of health conditions, with the number of tests and diagnoses set to increase with future updates.
Everything is verified by real doctors so the information provided by the product is accurate and medically sound.
It is designed for both initial disease screening as well as ongoing monitoring of treatment effectiveness. The at-home health testing kit runs multiple biomarkers in each test to provide a comprehensive indication of the likelihood of disease presence.
And it only takes a few minutes so you don’t have to waste a lot of time waiting (and worrying) for results to come back, giving you the freedom to take a test whenever you like.
XSTAT 30
According to Popular Science, XSTAT 30 seals open wounds in less than 60 seconds by injecting blood-absorbing sponges into the opening. This device has been approved for the public to use by the FDA.
In the case of gunshot victims, medics are tasked with keeping patients alive until they can be properly treated in the emergency rooms. In order to do this, they must treat the gunshot wound at the scene of the injury by applying pressure and packing gauze into the cavity. Depending on the extent of the injury, this may have to be applied deep into the body.
According to the FDA, 30-40% of deaths by traumatic injury are the result of hemorrhaging and of this number between 33-50% occur before they reach the hospital.
This means that stopping the bleeding is so important to saving lives. To improve these statistics, RevMedx developed XSTAT 30. While they must be completely sterile and biocompatible, the sponges are very effective. They contain antimicrobials that cause blood to clot, preventing further bleeding.
The FDA goes on to say that each XSTAT 30 sponge can be used for up to 4 hours, giving patients enough time to receive life-saving surgical care.
Omron HeartGuide Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor
The Omron HeartGuide was one of the most highly-anticipated healthcare wearables to be released within the last 5 years. It has even been approved by the FDA.
Since its launch, this innovative healthcare product has gone on to win several awards, including Engadget’s Best Wearable Award, Tom’s Guide’s Best Health Award and Techlicious’ Top Picks of CES Award for its innovation in heart health technology. Omron released a statement through its social media account:
“We are honored to be recognized for our advancements in health technology and our mission to eliminate heart attacks and strokes.”
So what’s all the hype for? There are many reasons.
Firstly, unlike most other wristwatches, the HeartGuide has no unnecessary or uncomfortable cuffs or wires.
Most importantly, the Omron HeartGuide wearable blood pressure monitor comes with a flexible synthetics band that makes reading blood pressure easy – and with incredible accuracy. In fact, it’s reported that the blood pressure readings taken from this device are just as accurate as those taken by other popular upper-arm sphygmomanometers.
Considering more than 100 million people in the US suffer from hypertension and other heart-related problems, there is potential to save many lives. HeartGuide is suitable for people with a history or likelihood to have a stroke, heart attacks or heart failure. It comes with a range of features like a step counter and fitness tracker so patients can keep an eye on their health.
But it doesn’t stop there. HeartGuide also lets patients know about their body while they sleep. It comes with a built-in sleep tracker and heart rate monitor and records data just as accurately as the other features.
Eatwell
This final innovation in healthcare makes a big difference for patients suffering from dementia. According to Alz.org, cognitive and sensory impairments associated with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia often result in difficulty eating. This means that those living with the disease often spill their food and don’t eat as much as they should purely out of frustration.
After years of intense research and development, Eatwell, an 8-piece dining set, was created to help people with dementia eat. Now, while this may not be as technologically advanced as other items on this list, it does not take away the innovation and how helpful it is to those that need it. Plus, not only do sufferers benefit, but carers also have less of a burden and can worry less about their loved ones during meal times.
Eatwell bowls are purposely designed with slanted bottoms. This means that the food can be collected on one side, making it easy to scoop it all up. The distinct color of the dining ware is bright blue, an uncommon sight in the food industry. However, this also has great benefit as it helps users with dementia to identify the food in their bowls.
In terms of the spoons, they are designed to intentionally attach to the side of the dinnerware to make it easy to collect the food and reduce the chances of it spilling.
Finally, the handles on drinking cups and utensils allow for easy gripping and stability.