Future Technologies

Nokia’s mobile doctors of the future

By Mike on 22 July 2008

HELSINKI, Finland – In a recent interview with top global news agency AFP, Leo Kärkkäinen, one of the chief visionaries at the Nokia Research Centre may have joked that “maybe some time in the future mobile phones will grow in a pot like plants or maybe you could print a new phone”, but his tongue-in-cheek quip perfectly highlights the far-reaching breadth of research being explored behind the scenes.

One particularly interesting snippet in the article touched on ‘medical diagnosis systems’ and using the mobile handset as a medical tool.

Kärkkäinen went so far as to reveal that the Nokia Research Center is already carrying out trials on mobile phones that could help diagnose illnesses on the spot, helping areas in the world where a doctor or trained medical staff are not readily available.

While this clearly shows the NRC is pushing and broadening the scope of what a mobile handset can do, raising interesting questions such as would you entrust such important ‘life and death’ matters to a mobile device? It’s also worth considering whether such medically enabled handsets will be readily available to the untrained hand. Will users have to be medically qualified to operate them? Questions we’re keen to pose to the NRC team, and points that we’ll be following up on.

Of course this development is barely embryonic in terms of how far it’s been developed, and we still don’t know to what extent these device’s diagnoses powers (accuracy and reliability being the key issues) extend to. Nonetheless, to have such a device in the pocket in emergency situations could help massively in determining the course of action, and is unquestionably a seismic shift in terms of our vision for what mobile hardware could be capable of.

What do you think? Would you entrust your health to a mobile phone? And what wide implications would such a device have on the medical industry?

Photo from Mykl Roventine

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Gomcoite Says:
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:26 pm

Hi Mike,

This would be a great break-through. As a doctor i have still yet not come across any such research being carried out or any trials taking place, BUT i would love to see some basic features in our present day mobile devices.

1. We have a lot of Diabetic Cases around the globe and incorporating a Glucose Monitor that would check the persons HB1Ac Glucose levels would work wonders. this would help many patients to keep their blood glucose levels within normal limits.

2. The ability to vibrate can be used as a massage tool. help in physiotherapy units.

3. Pill Reminder software which would have a programmed clock that would ALERT the person to take his/her medicine on time. something like the appointment reminder, but we need this with integration with the hospital computers too.

4. The BT headset can be also programmed to be used as a hearing aid for people who have hearing defects.

and i have a lot more ideas ingrowing within me for a long time now, just waiting for Nokia Pilots start and i will submit my registration and keep fingers crossed that i get selected. dont know if they are possible or not but still why share them with you hoping they would come alive someday.

the one that i feel can be put to practice right away is the first one. hope to hear from you guys.

regards,
Dr. Anirudh Sharma

[Reply]

David Doherty Says:
September 6th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

A Mobile Healthcare Research Centre has been set up at City University in London and will be holding an event on the 8th-9th September titled “eHealth 2008″ that will have contributions from the key players including: the NHS, BT, iMetrikus, Cisco, IBM, O2/Telefonica, Fujitsu Labs, Vitaphone, Docobo, Healthways, iTelecare, 3G Doctor, the EU as well as the educational establishments of Elaramed, Imperial College, Guys & St Thomas’ and the Universities of Aalborg, Bangkok, Brunel, City, ETH, Kingston, Loughborough, Southampton, Manchester, Newcastle and Plymouth.

Find out more at http://www.electronic-health.org