I’m Too Techy for My Shirt, It Hurts....No Literally My Chest Hurts

Imagine with me a day when we are notified , by an electronic device that is monitoring a patients vital signs and pages ems way before the patient does. Wow, would that save on the 3am in the morning calls that they have been feeling this way since 6 am the previous day, but they just can’t take it anymore. This device could tell you a patient’s weight, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and much more. All of this information stored in a microchip. Does this sound to science fiction to you?  Well folks, we might possibly be on the verge of being there already.

In a recent study done by the University of California, San Francisco, they found that the apple watch is 97 percent accurate in detecting abnormal heart rhythms. Out of all their participants they used through a cardiac app, they found a majority through the study had normal cardiac rhythms. Most if not all had normal sinus.  Furthermore 200 participants were diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.  The study began in 2016 trying to find out if a smart watch can see if someone is going to have a stroke. They tested the study against 51 in-hospital cardioversions; officials said they achieved 97 percent accuracy in the ability to find irregular heart activity. This is too cool folks.

When there was an abnormal rhythm it was noticed by the watch.

We already have devices that people carry around that are portable 4 leads and 12 leads. Even there are devices that shock the crap out of you, if you go into pulsatile V-Tach, defibrillator vests. Imagine you haven’t been to the doctor ever for your heart. Your chest occasionally feels funny. You get the next apple arsenal device, the apple watch. Then whamm-o you find out the reason you feel funny might be because you have an abnormal heart beat, all thanks to your smart watch. What about are cardiac arrest rates? We could get notified of someone who has ST elevation and a possible infarction before they know if they even have chest pain. We literally could change the percentages of cardiac arrest saves. These smart watches could be like smoke detectors for the heart.

So next time you start downing all the electronic masterpieces that are being created, you off-the gridders, think about how technology is saving lives. From 911 being able to get your location from the phone, to an app that shows your efficiency of CPR, Times are changing folks.  Let us be the change, not the roadblock in the way of change.