“Until now, the smartwatch was seen as a niche product appealing to only hardcore tech users; however, I think the Apple Watch will not only make smartwatches mainstream, but also be the driver towards smartwatch adoption in the enterprise,” Michael DeFranco writes for Forbes. “No longer will doctors be pulled away from patients to respond to pages or phone calls. Rather, healthcare professionals can receive instant updates without needing to remove their phone from their pocket. This will provide not only better communication within the hospital, but also improved bedside experiences for patients.”
“Smartwatches will also improve the accuracy of patient records. Eliminating the need for pagers means communication will be redirected from phone calls to messages. The result of this change is a concrete history of decisions made by doctors and nurses with regards to a patient’s care,” DeFranco writes. “Messages can be easily accessed while updating charts or writing prescriptions to confirm directions and reduce miscommunication. Again, this not only saves time for healthcare providers but also improves the patient experience and can save lives.”
DeFranco writes, “As long as we are careful and thoughtful about the potential pitfalls, the communication benefits offered by wearables like the Apple Watch are tremendous – I look forward to the day when the smartwatch is as important a part of the doctor’s toolkit as the stethoscope.”
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