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Alydia Stark | 21 st May 2021
The technological world continues to expand with the recent creation of an app that allows pacemakers to be compatible with our smartphones. A pacemaker is a medical device placed under the skin “that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to cause the heart muscle chambers to contract and therefore pump blood to the body,” (Modic). The device is able to sense when your heart is beating irregularly or too slowly.
Pacemakers are commonly used in patients with a condition called arrhythmia. Those who have arrhythmia suffer with a heartbeat that is uneven, too slow, or too quick. Another device commonly used is a defibrillator. Similar to the pacemaker, the defibrillator monitors heart data in patients who could possibly suffer from heart failure or cardiac arrest. The device helps restore a stopped or irregular heart beat.
Usually, when a patient has a pacemaker, they have additional monitoring equipment that sits at their bedside and transmits secured data for their physician to review. The equipment tends to take up needed space and prevents patients from viewing their own cardiac data. Also, stationary equipment prevents tracking from out-of-home locations.
The new mobile app called MyCareLink Heart was originally launched in 2015 and updated Jan. 15, by Medtronic, rids the need for space-consuming bedside monitoring equipment. Creating an app allowing seamless, secure communication lets the patient have more insight into the same data their doctors see. When the app is used in relation to “Bluetooth-enabled pacemaker devices,” patients benefit from the freedom of knowing their pacemaker can connect with their mobile device and clinic wherever they may be (Modic). This is the first time a device like a pacemaker has had the ability to communicate through technology used by patients all over the globe everyday. Having an app like MyCareLink Heart could increase a patient's engagement with their physicians thus creating a more trust-filled bond.
Since the app was developed by Medtronic, it connects four of the pacemakers made by Medtronic to their patients' smartphones and tablets. The app is compatible with their “Azure, Percepta, Serena and Solara quadripolar cardiac resynchronization therapy pacemakers,” (Medtronic).
Questions regarding the results and effectiveness of a pacemaker smartphone app are bound to and already have been asked. How exactly can patients trust an app on their phone? Will it be easy to use? Will the data be communicated accurately? As of May 2020, “a study of the technology demonstrated that patients who used the mobile app to which the pacemaker transmits were more likely to adhere to their pacemaker remote monitoring schedule,” than their patient counterparts that used bedside monitors (Modic). There haven’t been any recent sufficient complaints of data misuse nor misinformation, but users have found difficulty using the app and connecting their pacemakers through Bluetooth. The same study found patients using the app successfully completed almost 95% of their scheduled transmissions. In comparison to bedside monitor control groups, the app reigned supreme.
Although convenient, mobile apps are far from perfect. Users commonly struggle with forced logouts and internet connectivity as well as not showing the patient all of their data. As the world continues to grow virtually, the creation of interactive medical apps that limit in-person exposure are destined to increase. Keep an eye out for news updates involving all things medical!
For more information, check out the links below!
https://www.todaysmedicaldevelopments.com/article/cleveland-clinic-top-10-medical-innovation s-2021/ https://www.cardiovascularbusiness.com/topics/heart-rhythm/new-mobile-app-connects-pacema kers-smartphones