Something the Lord Made
Most individuals are familiar with the common phrase, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, and this holds steadfast in the medical field. The film, Something the Lord Made, depicts the medical research of Dr. Alfred Blalock and his lab assistant, Vivien Thomas, at John Hopkins University in the 1940s. Dr. Blalock and Thomas were attempting to recreate Tetralogy of Fallot, otherwise known as Blue Baby Syndrome, in dogs to discover a procedure that could save the lives of the children who would otherwise perish. Cardiac surgery was an unheard-of procedure at the time, and many questioned the ethical principal of the surgery. Dr. Blalock and Thomas were the first individuals to successfully perform the procedure, …show more content…
This, coupled with the large population of individuals who have been diagnosed with hypertension, especially the just over 36 million who have uncontrolled hypertension (High Blood Pressure Fact Sheet), increases the level of services, treatments, and procedures provided and places a large financial burden on the healthcare system. The clinical grade wearable has the potential to lessen the severity of the diagnosis. Patients may be more compliant with a treatment plan that includes monitoring if they can wear the small, noninvasive device in lieu of taking time out to manually check their blood pressure on a regular basis. The more complete picture of the patient’s health, allows the provider to customize a treatment plan that would not only include monitoring, but also may include medications and diet changes. Controlling hypertension through clinical grade wearables and continuous monitoring has the potential to not only save monetarily, but more importantly it has the potential to save …show more content…
A provider may be able to detect red flags that may be precursors for other more serious pathologies, and because of that early detection can mitigate or negate the damage, lessening the severity. It also has the potential to lower the rate of incidence of inpatient hospital admissions and nursing home admissions. This could save the healthcare industry millions over the course of the next decade. Of course, clinical grade wearables are not without flaws. Compliance, as with any other medical treatment, is extremely important for the most favorable outcome. A patient must wear the device at the times predetermined by their provider to produce the most accurate data to effectively treat the patient. As with a patient who is inconsistent with their medication routine and sees inconsistent results, so too will the results be skewed if the device is not worn appropriately. Times the devices are not worn should be recorded and reported to the provider, so that incoming data is read
Most individuals are familiar with the common phrase, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’, and this holds steadfast in the medical field. The film, Something the Lord Made, depicts the medical research of Dr. Alfred Blalock and his lab assistant, Vivien Thomas, at John Hopkins University in the 1940s. Dr. Blalock and Thomas were attempting to recreate Tetralogy of Fallot, otherwise known as Blue Baby Syndrome, in dogs to discover a procedure that could save the lives of the children who would otherwise perish. Cardiac surgery was an unheard-of procedure at the time, and many questioned the ethical principal of the surgery. Dr. Blalock and Thomas were the first individuals to successfully perform the procedure, …show more content…
This, coupled with the large population of individuals who have been diagnosed with hypertension, especially the just over 36 million who have uncontrolled hypertension (High Blood Pressure Fact Sheet), increases the level of services, treatments, and procedures provided and places a large financial burden on the healthcare system. The clinical grade wearable has the potential to lessen the severity of the diagnosis. Patients may be more compliant with a treatment plan that includes monitoring if they can wear the small, noninvasive device in lieu of taking time out to manually check their blood pressure on a regular basis. The more complete picture of the patient’s health, allows the provider to customize a treatment plan that would not only include monitoring, but also may include medications and diet changes. Controlling hypertension through clinical grade wearables and continuous monitoring has the potential to not only save monetarily, but more importantly it has the potential to save …show more content…
A provider may be able to detect red flags that may be precursors for other more serious pathologies, and because of that early detection can mitigate or negate the damage, lessening the severity. It also has the potential to lower the rate of incidence of inpatient hospital admissions and nursing home admissions. This could save the healthcare industry millions over the course of the next decade. Of course, clinical grade wearables are not without flaws. Compliance, as with any other medical treatment, is extremely important for the most favorable outcome. A patient must wear the device at the times predetermined by their provider to produce the most accurate data to effectively treat the patient. As with a patient who is inconsistent with their medication routine and sees inconsistent results, so too will the results be skewed if the device is not worn appropriately. Times the devices are not worn should be recorded and reported to the provider, so that incoming data is read