How Doctors think about Data provided by Apple Watch?

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The technology is getting advanced faster than ever. From robots as bartenders to gadgets that will track your health. You name it. Apple watch was firstly used for health tracking such as breathing, heart rate, sleeping pattern, etc. But now, it focuses on women’s menstruation and overall health including noise exposure, hearing loss, heart rate, ECG, etc. So apple watch not only gives people information about their health but also collects a lot of data about people. People can access data that was never available before.

Perks of Apple watch

  • can track your ECG (whether it will be accurate or not, that is another matter)
  • Heart rate
  • Menstruation cycle
  • Stress level
  • Sleeping pattern
  • Activeness
  • It does not need any kind of training to use it.

Doctor’s opinion on apple watch

Different doctors had different mixed opinions about the apple watch. But the most common concern was that of 

  •      Accuracy – There is a lot of room for errors in the devices and the doctors cannot rely on the measurements and the people shouldn’t too.
  •    Information overload – it provides people with information that they do not need. People will put that information on google which will increase their fears and people will run towards the doctor on false information.

Other opinions include

  • First of all, an apple watch cannot replace cardiologists and it should be verifies first through FDA before it hits the market. 
  • It will create anxiety and depression among people. They will get scared. 
  • One of the cardiologists said that people are scared their hearts scare them which leads to more visits to the doctor and that is not such a bad thing. But this will lead to unnecessary tests or treatment because of the psychology of humans. They will think that there is something wrong with them if there heartbeat is irregular on the watch. 
  • The doctors will have to face a bunch of people obsessed over apple watch results and interpreting wrong signals. 
  • If the watch works best on young people then maybe it won’t be able to detect serious problems of older people.
  • It can also help in certain things such as if the ECG of a person comes out improper on the watch then he can immediately consult a doctor and see if the results are accurate or not and undergo a treatment that may prevent a heart attack or other leading diseases.
  • Doctors say that the watch’s data is useful for research purposes but it is hardly useful for doctors.
  • It creates panic among people which leads to anxiety and stress and they will rush into emergencies on false results.
  • People are not always wearing a watch. They can’t possibly track their heartbeats all the time. Hence, the information provided by the heart rhythm won’t be accurate.

Information is power and empowering people with this knowledge can be a positive thing and as well as negative depending upon how the person reacts after possessing the power.