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All About Fitness- Do’s And Don’ts

InnoHEALTH magazine digital team — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 08:00:48 +0000

I welcome all my readers to this beautiful journey- A journey not merely from “FAT TO FIT” but towards “HEALTH, HOPE AND HAPPINESS”!!! Not so long ago, the word “fitness” was limited to only a particular group of people like celebrities, athletes, swimmers, dancers etc. But in today’s contemporary world, it is really astonishing to see that every common man talks about fitness and is determined to be fit. So what does fitness actually mean???

“Fitness” is a broad term. It means something different to each person. It is infact a very personal term. In general, fitness is the ability to live a full and balanced life. It breeds self-reliance and keeps man mentally alert. Physical fitness is also essential for human beings to adjust well with their environment as their mind and body are in complete harmony.

In 1967, H.Harrison Clarke, who has significantly contributed in the field of physical education and is the author of multiple books on physical education defined fitness as “ The ability to carry out daily tasks (work and play) with vigour and alertness without undue fatigue and with ample energy to enjoy leisure time pursuits and to meet unforeseen emergencies”.

But in today’s fast-paced world where everything is INSTANT-from instant food (whether healthy or not), instant news (fake or otherwise), instant google answers (many a times creating confusion) to instant money transfer (though filled with security issues), everyone has forgotten that the beauty of life lies in focusing on “Being in the Present”.

According to my observations, there are two groups of population. One group of the population, especially the youngsters, expect instant fitness failing to understand the fact that it could turn out to be dangerous. They forget the fact that “PATIENCE IS THE KEY”. The saddest part is that with the beginning of new year and with a list of resolutions in mind, the overzealous, instant gratification selves of this group of people emerge and they do too much exercise in order to make up for the lost time. They can be called the “FITNESS FREAKS” and they develop an unhealthy obsession with staying healthy.

“It’s going to be a journey, it’s not a sprint to get in shape” -Kerri Walsh Jennings

The other group of population are those who do not want to start any type of physical exercise, at any point of time and they just keep postponing. They are known as the “SEDENTARY” population and are defined as those expanding less than 10% of their daily energy in the performance of moderate to high intensity activities. This attitude is harmful for the generation. In today’s rush, they fail to realize that health is a precious asset until it has been depleted. The start is what stops most people especially in matters related to fitness.

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. -Arthur Asle

Now, I leave it to the readers to decide about which group of population they belong to. There is also one last group of population about which I have not mentioned. These are the people who have already started with the fitness activities but are still left with lot’s of confusion in their minds and infact are strong believers of some common ‘myths’ as ‘facts’ associated with fitness. The purpose of my article is basically to throw some light over these myths, misconceptions and misbeliefs and to highlight some DO’S AND DON’TS about fitness in a simple, comprehensible and lucid way.

Irrespective of the type of person you are, here goes the list of some DO’S AND DON’TS about fitness for all.

DO’S

1. Always get a physical examination and consult experts: Everybody is different and every person reacts to muscle strain in a different way. So kindly consult your physician for a general health check up before you engage yourself in any kind of new exercise or fitness workouts. Never hesitate to take advice from experts (physical therapist or personal trainer). Make sure you do the exercise safely and effectively.

2. Be determined and set your goal: The best investment you can ever make is in your health. When you feel like quitting, always think about the reason for your initiation.

3. Do it for yourself: Fitness is not about being better than someone else, it is all about being better than you used to be. Being the best version of oneself.

4. Set aside time for exercise: Put all your excuses aside and make time for exercise. One hour of workout is just 4% of your whole day. Cut the time you use for browsing through WhatsApp and social media pages or the time you use for playing some online games to make time for exercise.

5. Make it a habit: Research shows that frequent, early repetitions of certain behaviours, such as exercise, make it more likely to become something you do automatically. Once you see the results, it becomes an addiction. Fitness is more about mental than a physical challenge.

6. Take rest at regular intervals: According to the performance and well-being coach George Anderson- “For most of the people especially beginners, periods of recovery between sets or intervals allows for higher intensity, better quality movement, lower risk of injury and a greater training stimulus that is likely to lead to superior results”. Remember that “Soreness is never a sign of good workout”. Less rest never means that you are working hard. Pain always signals that something is not working properly. Overexertion signs are fatigue, muscle soreness, dehydration, exhaustion.Overexertion can cause injuries like muscle sprains, strains and tears, tendinitis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Joint dislocations, herniated discs, stress fractures etc.

7. Always keep yourself hydrated: There is always the risk of dehydration especially while working out in hot, humid weather and during rigorous prolonged workouts due to excessive sweating. Severe dehydration could be dangerous as it can create electrolyte imbalances and strain the muscles.

8. Record your improvements: Always keep a track of your improvements whether physical or mental as they give a sense of pride in your accomplishments and motivate you to continue in your path towards fitness without any hindrance.

DON’TS

1. Do not get obsessed with fitness: There lies a darker reality behind the fitness fanatics. Especially with the ongoing COVID pandemic, we are exercising now more than ever. But everything in moderation is best. Everything that exceeds the bounds of moderation has an unstable foundation. These days the “fitness trackers” and devices of various brands like Apple, Samsung, Fitbit, Huawei are used ubiquitously and they have occupied almost everyone’s wrists. According to a recent report by Glasgow-based general practitioner Dr. Des Spence, all health-tracking devices were contributing to an ‘unhealthy health-obsessed generation’ (also published in British Medical Jour

2. Never start off too hard: It is always better to take small steps. A journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step. Don’t be overwhelmed and do not binge on exercise. Slow down and start again after you feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Moderate exercise has shown to improve the immune system while excessive exercise could suppress it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), increased workouts don’t assure health benefits. Experts say that extreme exercises may also lead to heart damage and heart rhythm disorders. One study found that repeated extreme exercises can remodel the heart, thickening the heart walls and scarring tissue. You don’t have to be extreme, just be consistent

3. Don’t just focus on weight loss: It’s quite common for the beginners to check their weight on the weighing scale after every workout and keep a track of even a gram increase or decrease in weight. Don’t make weight loss your sole marker of success. You will lose weight slowly. Target on fat loss rather than on weight loss because as you become fitter, you will gain muscle and become more toned –muscle weighs more than fat. So the process is definitely a slow one.

4. Do not starve/ Don’t binge: Make sure to give your body the right nutritious food to fuel your workouts. Women are at risk for what is known as the “female athlete triad” that includes: loss of menstruation, osteoporosis and eating disorders. These symptoms arise from a combination of overexercise and calorie restriction. Also there is an eating disorder known as “Orthorexia nervosa” that involves an unhealthy obsession with eating foods that one considers as healthy.

Lastly, I would also like to add that Fitness has no age limits. It is not limited to workout routines, equipment or machinery. You could choose your own way to be fit. Even simple house cleaning or dancing or short walking can be preferred for staying fir. Fitness can be found at your fist. Yes, clenching a smiley ball in your fist is also a way of exercising. It’s never too early or too late to work towards being the healthiest and best version of you.

I would conclude with these beautiful lines: “Train like an athlete, eat like a nutritionist, sleep like a baby, win like a champion”.

So let’s all begin our journey towards HEALTH, HOPE AND HAPPINESS………….

Composed by: “Dr. Shubha. H.V is a pathologist working as Lab head in SRL diagnostics, Fortis hospital, Rajajinagar, Bangalore.”

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Careers in Healthcare

InnoHEALTH magazine digital team — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:52:18 +0000

With the age of technology advent, various new roles are arising in all the industries. But there is skepticism, misinformation, and lack of knowledge about the industry and the opportunities available in such industries like say Healthcare Industry. So here are some of the amazing opportunities in the healthcare sector that you might interest yourself with:

Respiratory Therapist:

Who deals with a specific set of patients with respiratory problems which covers the lungs and the throat. The patients consulting such therapist would be having issues like asthma, COPD, emphysema, etc. The job requires the patient to be administered with various techniques of breathing for the cure. There are many dimensions in this job you work directly with patients, work behind the scenes doing sleep studies.

Radiation therapist:

This therapist primarily deals with patients with Cancer, these therapists administering radiation treatments on the protocols provided by supervisors/physicians.

Dentist(Dental Hygienist)

This profession deals with conducting screenings, providing treatment to prevent oral problems, and advisory for the upkeep of oral hygiene.

Registered Nurse

A registered nurse is a licensed medical professional who assists doctors with various procedures and coordinates patient care

Physician Assitant

It is a growing profession. The PA works under a licensed physician and does the task of basic diagnosis of the patient, review the patient’s medical history, patient counseling, medicine prescription, assess the patient’s progress, etc. The depth of work depends on the supervisor physician.

Speech-Language Pathologist

Speech-language pathologists evaluate, diagnose, and treat speech, language, communication, and swallowing disorders. These highly trained clinicians work as part of a collaborative, interdisciplinary team of professionals, which includes physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, teachers, physicians, audiologists, and psychologists, among others. It also provides therapeutic application of corrective measures to help people with speech disorders.

Physical therapist

A licensed medical professional who diagnoses physical abnormalities and who restores physical functionalities by administering and further promoting physical activities. Physical therapists provide the patient with therapy to get the mobility back.

Occupational Therapists

This kind of therapist helps a patient restore function through purposeful activities to restore functional independence and help the patient get back to their regular life quickly. They work with orthopedic injuries(injuries to the musculoskeletal system), neurological patients, etc. The Occupational therapists focus on improving the motor functions of the patients. What it means to improve/restore the motor functions is to restore smaller fine movements like dressing, feeding, writing (for children with handwriting deficits), etc.

Optometrist

This occupation is the practice of examining the eyes and applicable visual systems for defects of abnormalities and the administering of vision tests to evaluate visual acuity and visual perception in humans. In addition to diagnosis, they are also known as ophthalmic opticians are trained and authorized to correct treatment, and/or manage vision changes through the prescription and disbursement of corrective lenses and medication when necessary.

Pharmacist

This job is about drugs and medicines, their manufacturing, dose calculation, etc. It doesn’t only mean checking the availability of medicine and provide the medicine asked but to better understand the reaction between the medicines and better provide medicine to the patient based on the individual’s condition.

Podiatrists

They are licensed healthcare professionals, who specialize in foot, ankle, and associated structure. They use various advanced biomechanics and chemical therapies to effectively and promptly treat lower limb disorders.

Anesthesiologist/CRNA

It is the specialty dealing with patients before, during, and post-surgery. They are responsible for a patient to get through surgery safely. In addition to ensuring patients are properly sedated and comfortable throughout the operation, they also maintain stable vitals, their blood calculation, and open airway for adequate breathing.

Psychiatrist

They help patients in assessing and recover a patient’s symptoms/ conditions like psychological pain trauma distress. Psychiatrists are Medical doctors who have completed the certification program for it, they rely more on talk therapy training to improve a patients’ condition and rely on medication for treatment in case of severe symptoms.

Don’t mix a psychologist with a psychiatrist who can only diagnose and treat mental illness using only nonmedication treatments. They do not have detailed knowledge as Psychiatrists so they are not allowed to prescribe medication so they are not permitted to do so. They often work together based on the psychologists working on therapy and psychiatrist working on medication of the patient.

Now while deciding the profession various factors come into play like:

Work environment or say the setting you would be working in,
Autonomy,
Hands-on like a physician or hands off like a radiation therapist,
Whether you can endure the no. of years of schooling of a said profession or not,
Cost of education, how much debt are you willing to go into.
Current Financial obligations/conditions,etc.

(Note: This article is just a means to give basic information and to incite students, who are taking steps towards a medical career. There is more to know than what appears in front. I would suggest doing detailed research on any career path you feel intrigued about in the article as there is a lot more to learn for each career stated here.)

“Composed by: Rohan Tandel”

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Is “Smart” Technology a Saviour of Healthcare?

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 28 May 2019 09:18:22 +0000

The healthcare industry is continuously sprouting with the exponential evolution of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and robotics, etc. These new areas of smart technology are expected to pose unswerving influence on the healthcare industry during the next couple of years.

Smart Health Technology is equipped to automatically obtain, store and compute health information from technically advanced sensors and offer personalized advice or automated actions from the collected data. This technology can interact and engage with data via Virtual or Augmented Reality to provide even more real-time experience for both, physicians and patients.

With the dissatisfaction among junior doctors reaching unprecedented levels (a staggering 80% feel excessively stressed) and the number of doctors progressing to specialty training dwindling to its lowest rate in the history of the National Health Service (NHS); these changes have never been more needed. In the event of NHS staff struggling to cope up with the growing demand for patient care, owing to the UK’s rising aging population, technology is seen as an enabler which will further propel healthcare professionals to work smarter, and not harder.

There are numerous opportunities for healthcare stakeholders/ manufacturers to innovate Smart Health Technology solutions, which are expected to streamline the precise medical care approach, e.g., telemedicine. However, there are also certain restraints in the regular healthcare system pertaining to infrastructure and adequate competencies to integrate Smart Health Technologies. Moreover, manufacturers and service providers need to ensure data security and adhere to global standards. Few of the latest applications of Smart Health Technology are Smart Apps, Smart Pills, Smart Syringes, Intelligent Fabrics, and Smart Wearable Devices.

Also Read:
AI and Cybersecurity in Digital Healthcare
World’s First AI powered Ayurveda Protocol

Smart Apps

The global smartphone users’ count is expected to surpass 2.5 billion by 2019. This exponential base of users is expected to influence the fate of health and fitness apps, which have already increased by more than 30% since 2016 (as on current date). It is estimated that almost 75% of current active mobile users run their health and fitness apps at least twice a week. With increased awareness among the mass population, people are leveraging technology to take better control of their health conditions such as asthma, infertility, obesity, and diabetes, etc. Moreover, the plethora of user data churned out from these apps are helping the market researchers access unparalleled volume of data for further in-depth and precise insights.

Smart Pills

The smart pill technology includes a wireless capsule, a receiver, and the software, which investigates and categorizes the gathered information from the patient who consumes the pill. It is an emerging technology, which is witnessing an upsurge in demand and is expected to show significant potential in the diagnostics domain in the future. The technology is used to detect gastrointestinal (GI) conditions and offers the physicians with information relating to several parameters such as pH, temperature and GI tract pressure.

For instance, the first digital pill -Abilify MyCite (approved in November 2017 by the US Food and Drug Administration) is used to track patients’ medication data. This is a venture between Tokyo-based Otsuka and California-based Proteus Digital Health (digital medicine service provider). The other key players operating in the smart pill technologies market include Novartis AG, Given Imaging Ltd., Philips Healthcare, Smartpill Inc., Olympus Medical Technology, Medtronic, Pentax Medical Co., Siemens Healthineers, Stryker Corp., GE Healthcare, and Boston Scientific Corp.

Smart Wearables

Smart wearable medical devices are small electronic products (consisting of sensors) which have computational competence. These devices are entrenched into items, which are attached to different body parts of the user. They can resemble watches, eyeglasses, clothing, contact lenses, shoes, or even jewelry.

Few of the latest smart health monitoring wearables in the global market include:

Apple Watch Series 4 (healthcare app)
Pebble Health (health monitoring app)
Zephyr BioPatch (wireless monitoring device)
Muse headband (brain-sensing monitoring headband)
AliveCor Heart Monitor (smartphone-based ECG device)
Garmin Forerunner 935 (GPS-enabled heart rate monitoring device)

Precisely, the Apple Watch Series 4 is embedded with an ability to automatically inform hospital service providers if a user becomes immobile for a stipulated period of time. This device assists people to become healthier, simultaneously storing real-time data which can be analyzed by healthcare professionals via remote patient monitoring, ensuring more precise and perceptive data for better healthcare practices. Moreover, AI can continuously monitor healthcare data and transfer the same to hospitals when necessary.

Conclusion

Upcoming healthcare technologies such as Smart Healthcare and AI are gradually renovating healthcare practices and are set to experience further innovations in the recent future. A significant number of healthcare experts are unquestionably banking on smart healthcare as a growing number of patients are keen to use these technologies and apps to improve their lifestyles. However, it is impossible to contemplate every research aspect of smart healthcare, considering its broad facets. Hence, as a result of the emergence of Smart Technology, healthcare stakeholders now should focus on imperative subjects such as security and privacy, ethics, training, biomarkers, genetics and personalized medicines, robotic-enhanced environments, human-computer interaction, and so on. The future is endless and exponential!

About the author

Victor Mukherjee is currently working as an Assistant Manager – Healthcare Practice, Infoholic Research

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AI Engraving Footprints on Healthcare Transcontinental Canvas

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 07:22:38 +0000

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING, the discoverer of Penicillin, shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945. But when he arrived in Stockholm to receive the award he had a bad cold. Throughout the ceremony, he used his handkerchief repeatedly. Later when he was leaving, his eyes were still watery, and he was still sniffing. One of the officials shook his head sympathetically and said, “No good for colds”. EE Edgar January 1965.

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But, it was a stunning discovery that changed the course of history. The active ingredient, which Fleming named Penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognized for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, Penicillin altered forever the treatment of bacterial infections.

Now, it is turn of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that is making fast forays in a broad-spectrum of disciplines, and medical diagnostics and treatment field is paving way for intrusion of AI.

Across the world, race is underway to exploit AI for good of patients. Many say it is not much away from tipping point: those who will take timely advantage of it or those who are set to miss the opportunity at the initial moments.

In India, AI ball has started rolling in the wake of the huge potential of the healthcare network and an ever-burgeoning population of 130 crore people. A discussion paper on National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence prepared by NITI Aayog team which included, Arnab Kumar, Punit Shukla, Aalekh Sharan, and Tanay Mahindru, came up for discussions recently and moves are afoot to proceed further.

The paper delved at length on various dimensions of AI. It said NITI Aayog is working with Microsoft and Forus Health to roll out the technology for early detection of diabetic retinopathy as a pilot project. 3Nethra, developed by Forus Health, is a portable device that can screen for common eye problems. Integrating AI capabilities to this device using Microsoft’s retinal imaging APIs enables operators of 3Nethra device to get AI-powered insights even when they are working at eye checkup camps in remote areas with nil or intermittent connectivity to the cloud.

The resultant technology solution also solves for quality issues with image capture and systems checks in place to evaluate the usability of the image captured.

AI-based healthcare solutions can also help in making healthcare services more proactive – moving from “sick” care to true “health” care, with emphasis on preventive techniques.

AI solutions can augment the scarce personnel and lab facilities; help overcome the barriers to access and solve the accessibility problem; through early detection, diagnostic, decision-making and treatment, cater to a large part of India.

Cancer screening and treatment, the paper says, is an area where AI provides tremendous scope for targeted large-scale interventions. India sees an incidence of more than 1 million new cases of cancer every year, and early detection and management can be crucial in an optimum cancer treatment regimen across the country.

NITI Aayog is in the advanced stage for launching a programme to develop a national repository of annotated and curated, despite the obvious economic potential, the healthcare sector in India remains multi-layered and complex and is ripe for disruption from emerging technologies at multiple levels.

It is probably the most intuitive and obvious use case primed for intervention by AI-driven solutions, as evidenced by the increasing activity from large corporates and start-ups alike in developing AI focused healthcare solutions.

Researchers said the Adoption of AI for healthcare applications is expected to see an exponential increase in the next few years. The increased advances in technology and interest and activity from innovators provides an opportunity for India to solve some of its long-existing challenges in providing appropriate healthcare to a large section of its population. AI combined with robotics and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) could potentially be the new nervous system for healthcare, presenting solutions to address healthcare problems and helping the government in meeting the above objective pathology images. Another related project under discussions is an Imaging Biobank for Cancer.

In US, Viz.ai, Inc., an applied artificial intelligence healthcare company a few months back announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a De Novo request for the first-ever Computer-Aided Triage and Notification Platform to identify Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO) strokes in CTA imaging. This regulatory clearance compliments Viz.ai’s recent European CE Mark for the product in January 2018.

“The Viz.ai LVO Stroke Platform is the first example of applied artificial intelligence software that seeks to augment the diagnostic and treatment pathway of critically unwell stroke patients,” said Dr. Chris Mansi, Neurosurgeon and Chief Executive Officer. “We are thrilled to bring artificial intelligence to healthcare in a way that works alongside physicians and helps get the right patient, to the right doctor at the right time.”

Stroke is a serious and time-sensitive medical condition that requires emergency care and can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, and death. A stroke occurs if the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a portion of the brain is blocked. When this happens 2 million brain cells die every minute. “This software device could benefit patients by notifying a specialist earlier thereby decreasing the time to treatment. Faster treatment may lessen the extent or progression of a stroke,” said Robert Ochs, Ph.D., Acting Deputy Director for Radiological Health, Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

The Viz.ai LVO Stroke Platform was developed using deep learning, a revolutionary technique where algorithms learn how to identify patterns in data from millions of prior examples. The Viz.ai system connects to a hospital CT scanner and alerts the stroke specialist that a suspected LVO stroke has been identified, sending the radiological images directly to their smartphone.

In a 300-patient performance study, the Viz.ai LVO Stroke Platform obtained an AUC of 0.91, identifying LVOs and alerting the relevant specialist with 90% sensitivity and specificity and a median scan to notification time of under 6 minutes. In over 95% of cases, the automatic notifications demonstrated faster notification of the specialist, saving between 6 and 206 minutes, with an average time saving of 52 minutes.

“Timely LVO stroke identification and transfer to a specialist hospital that can perform mechanical thrombectomy is the top priority for LVO stroke patients,” said Dr. Raul Nogueira, Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Radiology at Emory University and the Immediate-Past President, Society of Vascular & Interventional Neurology. “This software is designed to help identify appropriate patients earlier and more often, and enable faster transfer and treatment, which, ultimately may result in improved patient outcomes.

Noted Cardiologist ERC Topol, who is Professor of Genomics and holds the Scripps endowed chair in innovative medicine, has now written a book that calls for the “creative destruction” of the current medical paradigm, which he believes has failed to keep up with the digitized world of interactivity, social media, computers, apps, and advanced engineering and electronics.

In his book, he lambasts current day medicine as being archaic and wasteful, making his case with a compelling blend of statistics, anecdotes. Prof. Topol believes that consumers teaming up with innovators in the med-digital world are the key to forcing change, which is certainly true. But how exactly will this work?

The NITI Aayog discussion paper says AI is a constellation of technologies that enables machines to act with higher levels of intelligence and emulate the human capabilities of sense, comprehend and act. Thus, computer vision and audio processing can actively perceive the world around them by acquiring and processing images, sound and speech.

The natural language processing and inference engines can enable AI systems to analyze and understand the information collected. An AI system can also act through technologies such as expert systems and inference engines or undertake actions in the physical world. These human capabilities are augmented by the ability to learn from experience and keep adapting over time. AI systems are finding ever-wider application to supplement these capabilities across enterprises as they grow in sophistication. The paper says healthcare is one of the most dynamic, yet challenging, sectors in India, and is expected to grow to USD 280 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of upwards of 16%, from the current ~USD 100 billion.

Adoption of AI for healthcare applications is expected to see an exponential increase in the next few years. Technology disruptions like AI are once-in-generation phenomenon, and hence large-scale adoption strategies, especially national strategies, need to strike a balance between narrow definitions of financial impact and the greater good. NITI Aayog has decided to focus on five sectors that are envisioned to benefit the most from AI in solving societal needs: a) Healthcare: increased access and affordability of quality healthcare; b) Agriculture: enhanced farmers’ income, increased farm productivity and reduction of wastage; c) Education: improved access and quality of education; d) Smart Cities and Infrastructure: efficient connectivity for the burgeoning urban population; and e) Smart Mobility and Transportation: smarter and safer modes of transportation and better traffic and congestion problems.

Yet, it faces major challenges of quality, accessibility, and affordability for a large section of the population:

A: Shortage of qualified healthcare professionals and services like qualified doctors, nurses, technicians and infrastructure: as evidenced in 0.76 doctors and 2.09 nurses per 1,000 population (as compared to WHO recommendations of 1 doctor and 2.5 nurses per 1,000 population respectively) and 1.3 hospital beds per 1,000 population as compared to WHO recommended 3.5 hospital beds per 1,000 population.

B: Non-uniform accessibility to healthcare across the country with physical access continuing to be the major barrier to both preventive and curative health services, and glaring disparity between rural and urban India. With most of the private facilities concentrated in and around tier 1 and tier 2 cities, patients have to travel substantial distances for basic and advanced healthcare services.

The problem is further accentuated by lack of consistent quality in healthcare across India, most of the services provided are individually driven rather than institution driven, and less than 2% of hospitals in India are accredited.

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5.2 Million Medical Errors in India

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 04:56:32 +0000

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that medical errors happen in 1 out of 10 patients every year globally but according to Harvard Study conducted by Prof. Jha revealed that 5.2 medical errors happen annually in India and among that, medication and hospital-acquired infection errors are the major ones.

To increase the quality of care, developed countries had already initiated incentive payment model to encourage and reward healthcare providers (hospitals, public health centers, school-based hospitals, and group practices) for delivering high-quality care.

Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services, United States has developed value-based purchasing program rewarding the healthcare providers who had provided quality care to their patients.

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Similarly, in 2017 the Singapore Health Ministry started to focus on the quality of care. Healthcare system in India pays the provider for the quantity of care, not for quality care and has not initiated any policies with regards to the increase in quality of care.

Mr. Bhargav Dasgupta, Managing Director, and CEO of ICICI Lombard in a recent press release about Indian government increasing GDP for healthcare to 2.5 said, it is a good move and this spending can be used to initiate quality programs. To measure the quality of care, the government should implement Quality metric tools in the major areas of medical error namely, reduce medication and hospital-acquired infection.

The quality metric tool will help the Indian Health Ministry to assess whether the provider has delivered high-quality care. For example, to assess whether a hospital has delivered high-quality care in prescribing medication to the patient with upper respiratory tract infection, the provider should report how many patients are being prescribed with proper antibiotics – for how many days.

Suppose the first year if the provider proves that 100 patients were prescribed with proper antibiotics then the number of patients should increase to 10% each year and finally achieve 100% goal in the consecutive year. The government should reward the provider with the incentive for providing evidence of high-quality care. Once two major medical errors have been addressed and controlled, the government can use the same model to all the areas of medical error. Hence, this incentive program will eventually increase the quality of care and decrease the cost of healthcare. This incentive program should be initiated first in government hospitals, profit hospitals, and physician group practice. This will further attract more medical tourist to India due to the high quality of care.

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Digital tracking system: Pill to determine medication ingestion

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 07 Mar 2018 11:14:41 +0000

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a pill with sensor that digitally tracks if patients have ingested their medication

AbilifyMyCite (aripiprazole tablets with sensor) has an ingestible sensor embedded in the pill that records that the medication was taken. The product is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder and for use as an add-on treatment for depression in adults.

The system works by sending a message from the pill’s sensor to a wearable patch. The patch transmits the information to a mobile application so that patients can track the ingestion of the medication on their smart phone. Patients can also permit their caregivers and physician to access the information through a web-based portal.

“Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for mental illness may be useful for some patients,” said Mitchell Mathis, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “The FDA supports the development and use of new technology in prescription drugs and is committed to working with companies to understand how technology might benefit patients and prescribers.”

It is important to note that AbilifyMyCite’s prescribing information (labeling) notes that the ability of the product to improve patient compliance with their treatment regimen has not been shown. AbilifyMyCite should not be used to track drug ingestion in “real-time” or during an emergency because detection may be delayed or may not occur.

Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe and disabling brain disorder. About 1 percent of Americans have this illness. Typically, symptoms are first seen in adults younger than 30 years of age.

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Symptoms of those with schizophrenia include hearing voices, believing other people are reading their minds or controlling their thoughts, and being suspicious or withdrawn. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is another brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. The symptoms of bipolar disorder include alternating periods of depression and high or irritable mood, increased activity and restlessness, racing thoughts, talking fast, impulsive behavior and a decreased need for sleep.

AbilifyMyCite contains a Boxed Warning alerting health care professionals that elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death. AbilifyMyCite is not approved to treat patients with dementia-related psychosis. The Boxed Warning also warns about an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children, adolescents and young adults taking antidepressants. The safety and effectiveness of Abilify-MyCite have not been established in pediatric patients. Patients should be monitored for worsening and emergence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. AbilifyMyCite must be dispensed with a patient Medication Guide that describes important information about the drug’s uses and risks.

In the clinical trials for Abilify, the most common side effects reported by adults were nausea, vomiting, constipation, headache, dizziness, uncontrollable limb and body movements (akathisia), anxiety, insomnia, and restlessness. Skin irritation at the site of the MyCite patch placement may occur in some patients.

Prior to initial patient use of the product, the patient’s health care professional should facilitate use of the drug, patch and app to ensure the patient is capable and willing to use the system.

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