Since many decades, medical devices have been growing smaller, inexpensive, and more portable. The point-of-care tests that are tested external to the traditional laboratory are extensively used for monitoring blood glucose in diabetes, pregnancy testing,and for many other applications.
Today, medical testing is experiencing another alterating phase where recent technological advances are enabling the development of tests that make medical screening, diagnosis, and monitoring less confined, more low-cost, and patient-focused. Few of these devices are next-generation point-of-care devices while others provide individuals with unprecedented genetic information.
New and emerging medical tests have the potential to deliver the kind of patient-centered as well as evidence-based medicine that consumers and healthcare professionals have been expecting. One of those examples can be the situation for the people having diabetes. Pricking their fingers to draw blood and then test the blood in a glucose monitoring machine can be an tedious process. Sometimes it means that diabetics don’t test their glucose as frequent as they should. Plus, the method doesn’t provide the big picture of how an individual’s glucose levels change throughout the day and night. However, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) offers a solution for substituting the finger prick method and these systems rely on a small sensor placed under the skin and a data receiver. Further progresses showcases that concept a step further by providing efficient CGM that is compatible with a smart watch. A prime benefit of the device is that people can track their glucose data and this is how parents can make a precise record of their loved ones health from far.
Truly, this is an exciting time for medical testing, but there are various considerations for these evolving technologies. Also, data privacy is a primary concern as consumers and their healthcare providers become more flooded in personal medical information.
New testing devices are best used along with professional consultation to ensure you aren’t making decisions that could compromise their health. Advanced testing technologies are still complimentary to traditional laboratory testing. While many of the tests are in their early days, they promises us of moving closer to a complete individualized, less confined, and patient-centric medicine.