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24, 2008 USC Body Computing Conference
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Mission Statement:
“Body Computing”
refers to an implanted wireless device, which can transmit up-to-the-second
physiologic data to physicians, patients, and patients’ loved
ones.
Rich in innovating technological resources, American healthcare
possesses an unprecedented amount of resources and talent, and yet
it has a fractured communication system that plagues outcomes, impedes
progress and prevents patient satisfaction. A physician talking
with a barely-clothed patient in an exam room is an antiquated model
that does not always produce the best medical care. There is a medical
and economic need to update the modes of communication between patients
and physicians, as well as how patients’ health is managed.
Body computing can forever change the interaction between physicians
and patients. Where electronic medical records have made it possible
to transfer clinical data rapidly, networked devices can take this
further: completing the loop by virtually eliminating the need for
paper charts, desktop computers, pagers and cell phones to convey
crucial information. In cases of emergency, response time is expedited
tenfold as the implanted device provides emergency care physicians
with the patient’s health status before the patient even arrives
at the Emergency Room. On a personal level, imagine waking up every
morning and receiving real-time data about a loved one on your cell
phone or PDA, and the worry this new technology can assuage.
Although body computing is a relatively nascent field that raises
many new issues, the caliber of speakers at USC’s Body Computing
Conference is a testament to the interest among business leaders,
entrepreneurs, the investment community, physicians and scholars.
The USC Body Computing Conference will bring together distinguished
representatives from the fields of wireless and biotechnology, pharmaceuticals,
entertainment, investment banking, and governmental organizations
to educate and discuss all prospects, concerns, and long-term effects
that would accompany networked physiologic monitoring as it takes
its place in the advancement of the medical community.
With this advancement, certain issues will be raised:
Improved Quality of Life for Patients
- How can networked physiologic monitoring to networked communication
systems eliminate the gap in patient to physician communication
and physician to physician communication?
- How does this new technology empower patients to understand
their health complications and become more active in the treatment
of those complications?
- How can we strengthen not only the patient-physician relationship,
but the relationship between patients and their loved ones? By
incorporating body computing features into cellular phones and
other portable electronic devices, can we strengthen the communication
between patients and their loved ones?
- How can we design a device that is more than just a physiologic
monitoring system, but a life management tool and appliance the
patient relates to, is comforted by, and enjoys using? How can
entertainment be incorporated into cardiac monitoring devices
to entice patients to use them?
Effects on Medical Practice
- Family members and physicians would be alerted to any changes
in the patient’s health that would require emergency assistance.
Images, data, and appropriate treatment would already be prepared
when the patient arrives at the hospital, saving valuable time
that could mean the difference between life and death.
- How can body computing affect areas outside the realm of cardiology,
such as athletics? Can the trainer to athlete relationship be
enhanced through data gathered via body computing technology?
- What changes in medical practice are necessary to make body
computing a more pronounced part of people’s lives?
Are physicians ready to allow patients to have greater autonomy
in managing their own care?
- In the long run, how will body computing reduce medical costs?
- How do we educate and involve the medical community about new
possibilities available because of body computing?
- How do we assess improvement in patient care with real-time
physiological management versus traditional care methods?
- How do we negotiate the legal, ethical, societal, and privacy
issues that will be raised as body computing advances?
- What are the models for investing in body computing technology
when diagnostics and therapeutic aspects in the technology challenge
conventional models?
In addition to surgically implanted monitoring devices, body computing
can take the form of a smart pill, which, when
swallowed, monitors which medications the patient has taken as well
as other health status updates, and sends the data wirelessly to
the physician for analysis or intervention alerts.
The USC Body Computing Conference will address
these issues and provide a forum for the world’s foremost
scientific thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs, authors and others
working in the field of body computing to discuss the steps necessary
to give body computing a staunch and compelling foundation in the
future of medical science.
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