QUESTION

Select one of the following trends and discuss your understanding of this trend in healthcare and its potential impact on your practice as a nurse. What are the legal, privacy, and ethical considerations of this trend? • Nanotechnology • Consumer health informatics (CHI) • Telehealth (or telenursing)virtual healthcare • Social media healthcare applications • Health-focused wearable technology • eHealth

Health-focused Wearable Technology

The increasing need for individuals to monitor their health has instigated the higher demand and use of wearable technology devices. According to the business insider report, more than 80% of consumers from different parts of the world are willing to wear devices focused on controlling and managing their health. The wearable devices can be used in the management of the health of individuals that have reported some health concerns as well as by others who are only focused on managing their lifestyle. For instance, Smart-watches are designed for fitness management and to gauge the overall well-being of an individual. On the other hand, devices such as electronic glasses and bionic exoskeleton suits are designed to improve the health conditions of persons with low vision and lower extremity weakness respectively. while the wearable technology devices have proven to be effective in the management of various health conditions and general well-being of an individual, there are certain ethical and legal issues of concern that have ensued. Issues of data protection, privacy, and confidentiality of patient information have remained a major concern even as consumers use the devices in the management of their health. The current paper presents an analysis of the trends in the use of wearable technology in the health care sector, as well as discusses the ethical and legal issues that are likely to be reported following the use of the wearable devices in the management of health and well-being of an individual.

Trends in the Use of Health-Focused Wearable technology devices

The use of health-focused wearable technology has constantly increased in recent years. The number of users of the technology has steadily increased over the years, and today more than 60 million people across the world are reported to be using the technology in the management of their health. As the number of users of the technology increases, a significant advancement in the effectiveness, intuitiveness and sophistication of the health-focused wearable technology devices is reported. The major trends in the advancement of the health-focused wearable technology devices are advanced herein

The emergence of wearable apps that are more intuitive 

The advancement of technology has resulted in significant changes in the technologies adopted in the formulation of health-focused health wearable devices. The use of digital applications, machine learning technologies, and artificial intelligence have intensified the quality of the health-focused wearable devices. The technologies have improved the performance of wearable devices and are likely to enhance their capacity of handling a number of manual tasks.

Highly chic health-focused wearable 

Health-focused wearable technologies are shifting towards more fashionable accessories. Initially, smartwatches and other wearable devices were bulk and geek, however, recent development has seen the development of more chic devices that are portable and occupy limited space. A number of health-focused wearables such as smart-watches can be used in any kind of environment, due to their portable nature.

Multiple-use wearable

Highly effective diagnostic health-focused wearable