What is the difference between e-health and well-being?

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Too often, we mix e-health and well-being. What is the major difference between the two categories found in IoT? Here’s the beginning of an explanation.

E-health is doing well. It must be said that this market is growing: $ 476 million has been invested in total to develop objects dedicated to this sector. Among the products concerned, the study in question includes wearables, bracelets from the market leader Fitbit.

In addition, Médiamétrie published a survey concerning France. In December 2015, 6.2 million mobile users smart health connected at least once to a site or application in the health / well-being / nutrition sub-category. An increase of 22.6% in year.

CSP + and 25-34 year olds represent the largest share of consultations: 36.5% and 24.7% respectively. Even if these figures do not relate to smart health connected objects, it is interesting to note the interest for French people for these subjects. A trend that IoT designers have taken into account.

Definition problem

definition e-health well-being

Last Thursday was a conference on the IoT. Among the topics covered, e-health. The conference entitled "IoT and Healthcare" aimed to provide an overview of the sector.

During the presentation, the speaker gave a very broad summary of the field of Healthcare. Maybe a little too wide. A woman in the audience reacted strongly:

“You forgot an important point in your presentation: the status of the French medicine system. I know the field well, I have worked for almost thirty years in the pharmaceutical industry. Another problem is that you mix well-being and e-health. "

We arrested the person in question after the conference. She told us: " I didn't mean to be aggressive, but it's important to differentiate e-health, practiced by doctors and pharmacists, and well-being."

So how do we differentiate these two approaches in an increasingly smart health connected world? This is the question to ask yourself so as not to make amalgamation.

Well-being: a trend linked to quantified self

Well-being can be associated with quantified self devices and smart health connected sports. These objects provide data on a sports practice or not to allow the user to assess his behavior and take care of him. For example, smart health connected sleep is a trend that made headlines at CES 2016. Products accumulate sleep data, helping to put the user to sleep.

They can thus know the periods of deep sleep, the times of awakening during the night, etc. The most advanced of them also provide information on the environment, air quality, and temperature.

Similarly, the most common products are smart health connected watches and bracelets that measure the number of steps, the heartbeat. They offer a self-measurement experience.

In general, we can classify in this category products improving the feeling of control of his body in the user, directly or indirectly.

E-health: objects intended for the sick and professionals

connected wellness alarm

In contrast, e-health refers to medical IoT, that is, objects, services, platforms dedicated to helping doctors and patients. These projects are not new, the first surgical operations in telesurgery took place in the early 2000s.

Another type of experience is the platform for exchanges between doctors. The objective, to exchange opinions on patients and their files in order to provide adequate treatment. This principle can extend to the establishment of a telemedicine platform, the fact of treating a patient remotely, allowing consultation of medical information, etc.

In these cases, we are more obviously talking about the Cloud platform, and data processing, a category linked to Big Data. There is also the possibility of remote patient monitoring. Imagine the possibility of monitoring an elderly person, of knowing their movements. The caregiver could thus receive notifications of unusual events.

In the objects category, we can mention all medical devices: sensors to precisely measure heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar level, for example. Ideally, the data collected is used for real-time monitoring and is kept in the patient's file.

For the patient, it is a question of obtaining autonomy in relation to his illness. smart health connected objects such as advanced wearables must allow him to take measurements at health home, without having to go to his monitoring manager.

A technological difference

wellness connected watch

This latter use comes close to functionality through well-being objects. However, we must correctly differentiate these two aspects of the quantified self. You just have to talk to the manufacturers of the components included in smart health connected health devices and more conventional bracelets to understand this difference.

Companies like Maxim Integrated and Analog Devices design medical sensors and those for smartwatches and other bracelets. They identify two levels of requirement.

The revealing example: the heart rate sensor. The one intended for products for the general public will not present the precision of the medical device. It will record curves with less precise oscillations. The rates are not the same either. The higher requirement of health instruments requires special attention.

As for the placing on the market, the majority of products certified by the authorities in charge. You have to go through a battery of tests that confirm the harmlessness and effectiveness of the objects.

This technological difference still tends to decrease, since certain smart health connected objects intended for the general public obtain certifications entrusted by the medical community.

How to combine well-being and e-health

wellness doctor

The border between the e-health and well-being categories is porous. This is verified as market players grow or as web giants like Google and Facebook are looking into these areas.

While this may seem dangerous at first glance, the arrival of such players in these markets requires greater attention from public authorities and professionals.

According to the white paper "smart health connected health: from e-health to smart health connected health" published by the Council of the National Order of Physicians in January 2015:

"Only the work of evaluation will allow you to accept – or refuse – comments praising this or that advantage of a smart health smart health connected object. The studies will have to judge the performance of the sensors, but also the relevance of the software and algorithms associated with them. At the moment we are notoriously lacking in reliable data, so that too many applications look like black boxes. This knowledge deficit must be corrected because smart health connected health aims to have a direct impact on the behavior and decision-making of users (patients and / or professionals). "

This "ubimedicine", which puts "the individual directly in contact with a computerized decision aid", is therefore a question taken very seriously by the medical authorities.

The principle of mistrust is currently observed by a large part of practitioners, but the emergence of a phenomenon already widespread among sportsmen pushes professionals to include it in their practices.

In addition to the ethical issues inherent in data management, it must be possible to satisfy the popular will of preventive medicine based on IoT. For the moment, the need to Review the qualities of the products is necessary. This is how trust in wellness and smart health devices will come from both sides of the office, doctors and patients.

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