What Consumer Medical Device is The Best Form Factor?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the various form factors that are being used by consumer medical device companies lately. I think this interest was sparked when I heard a couple of the following statements:

“We’re about to enter a real battle for the wrist.”

“One of the keys to broad adoption is to build a product on top of an existing habit.”

The first statement really highlights the number of wrist based monitoring devices that are on the market. I agree that there’s going to be a real battle for the wrist. Interestingly enough, the second statement highlights why there’s going to be a real battle for the wrist. Many people are use to having a watch on their wrist. So, a product that is on the wrist is building on people’s habit of wearing a wrist watch.

What are your thoughts on the various form factors that are being used for medical devices:
-Wrist Bands
-Chest Straps
-Pant Clips
-Shoe Clips
-Arm Straps
-Head Straps
-Hand Held
-Pocket Stored
-Full Shirt
-Full Shorts

Are there any other form factors I’m missing? I’d love to start a real deep discussion on the various form factors and the pros and cons of each.

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March 27, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Gadgets  Healthcare IT  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care
Tags:    Medical Devices      Wrist Bands

Smartphone’s are everywhere now, and hospitals are no different.  They are used for sending messages, for finding doctors and nurses, and even for updating and accessing patient medical records.  Google is looking to take the whole thing to the next level.

There are with an integrated computer and camera by the end of the year.  I remember thinking that the old Oakleys that had a mp3 player were pretty cool, but this idea is way beyond playing some music.

The mentions a couple of applications this could have in the medical field, but the possibilities are practically endless.  Surgical assist, and mentoring from afar are two of the applications they mention that seem to have the most promise.

There have already been great advancements in these areas with the improvement of cameras and viewing monitors in operating rooms.  Having a computer literally strapped to your eyes would be an incredible asset to any surgeon.  It would also do amazing things in learning environments.

Surgeons would have access to not only x-rays and other images, but they would have access to massive databases of information to perform a standard operation.  Maybe more importantly, they would have that access in those situations that were not expected.

Doctors are incredibly busy people even when they are already occupied with a surgery or other procedure.  Having a device like these glasses would allow doctors to pause and take care of other issues without having to stop the procedure completely.

iMedicalApps is also sponsoring a contest to see who can come up with the most creative use of these glasses.  Of course they are still in development, and mostly a rumor at this point, but it does provide some very interesting opportunities in any number of fields.

I would love to hear about any ideas you may have of how these glasses can be used in any number of industries.

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March 1, 2012 I Written By

Filed Under: Android  Gadgets  Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care
Tags:Doctor Assisting Devices        mp3 Oakleys  Surgical Assist Devices