Since the 1970s, researchers, clinicians, and patients alike have noticed the disparities between treatment, medical history and patient experience. Oftentimes, therapies are oriented towards mitigating symptom expression, instead of addressing the underlying cause of a condition or performing a preventative test because considering the entirety of an individual’s history or addressing every symptom they experience is simply impossible for a single physician. Given that researchers estimated 65 – 80% of diagnoses for all patients could be derived from their medical history alone in 1975, it is vital for efficiency and accuracy in clinical settings for doctors to have easy and comprehensive access to patient medical history.
In the twenty-first century, many patients are not restricted to just doctor’s visits to generate health data. Instead, they collect their own data over time through wearable devices from companies like Apple, FitBit, Garmin, Oura, etc. Supplementing clinical-grade measurements with frequently measured biomarkers from wearables can provide an even more holistic view of the patient’s state of health. Furthermore, monitoring over time can enhance a patient’s qualitative reports on their symptoms, providing clinicians with a quantitative metric for observation and diagnosis.
To address the gaps in clinical utilization of both medical history and wearables data, we propose a combined application and applications programming interface (API), MediCloud, that consolidates and processes health data from a variety of sources. This method could be especially impactful for clinicians when interacting with patients with chronic, emergent, or highly complex conditions, as their treatment includes recurring hospital visits, consultations, treatments, and tests. Providing a physician with an easily accessible and up-to-date source of information can ensure correct diagnoses and care to the best of the physician’s ability while alleviating the time and effort required to synthesize a patient’s healthcare data.
MediCloud is accessible to both patients and clinicians alike and can be fully integrated into existing healthcare systems, as it is secure and translatable. Equipped to incorporate sources of data from wearable devices, existing electronic health records (EHRs), and even live clinical surveillance systems, MediCloud is pioneering data accessibility and utilization in medical settings. Its target population is pregnant women, as the issues of poor coordination of care between multiple providers and the necessity for quick, comprehensive information are prominent.
We built the MediCloud concept from computer science, medicine, medical engineering, marketing, and logistics tools. Apps like Fimga and GitHub allowed us to create a proposal for this product in conjunction with insight from our team’s varied academic backgrounds. We focused on combining our strengths to map out how data flows between systems and prioritized the most relevant health metrics and displays for a clean, easy-to-use interface for clinicians.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.