Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

If you’re an enthusiastic fitness addict, you’ve probably bought a fitness tracker to wear on your wrist, around your chest or as a pendant around your neck. Fitness trackers come in a variety of shapes and designs so that it’s fair to say that there’s one for everyone. Their advance functions can let you monitor your health in the smallest details, from the calories you burn through your daily run to the way you sleep, or your heartbeat during rest periods. As surprisingly as it might sound, fitness trackers are not just designed to help you make the most of your sports activities. They can play a major role in your lifestyle, encouraging you to make the right decisions. Additionally, they can even save your life, as it’s the case for many wearers who have contacted their doctors as a result of their health readings. Abnormal heartbeats are the first cause of worry, and, trusting the data from their wearable tech, many have been able to act before it was too late.

This sparks an interesting debate regarding the influence of technology in medicine, and more importantly, why people should learn to trust smart tech over individuals.

Click to see your doctor

First of all, it’s fair to say that the collective mind has slowly been moving towards a tech-friendly health environment. Indeed, more and more companies are offering telehealth as part of their job perks, ensuring their staff can have access to medical support at the click of a button. Mobile apps enable consultations on-the-go which, encouraged by data overlaps across the healthcare sector, can see a boom in the next few years. In the long term, the smartphone approach to healthcare can also reduce the need for face-to-face appointments for benign complaints, freeing up more time for doctors to focus on more complex health issues.

Don’t leave room for mistakes

People make mistakes. Fatigue, stress, and distraction can lead to costly errors in the healthcare sector. Every year, pharmacy mishaps kill almost 100,000 individuals, while causing significant harm to 1.3 million people. However, when lack of training isn’t the cause, it can be difficult to fix issues. Unfortunately, you can’t control stress factors or the way they affect your team. But there are already robotic alternatives such as the Arxium Pharmacy Automation solutions that can reduce the risk of human-made errors. Additionally, similar tech solutions can be activated at different process levels, from surgery operations to simple prescription refill.

You may not have a choice

Last, but not least, less and less young people want to become a doctor. Indeed, while saving lives is rewarding per se, too many individuals are worried about legal complications. In a lawsuit-hungry society, it’s no wonder that more and more doctors feel disillusioned. As a result, the healthcare shortage has already become apparent. Nobody wants to become a doctor. In the long term, you may not have any other choice than let a robot examine you. It’s impersonal and scary. But ultimately, the robot doesn’t worry about lawsuits, compliance rules, angry patients and tiredness.

It’s impossible to know what the doctors of tomorrow will be like. However, our natural penchant for technology implies that perhaps the traditional stethoscope could evolve into an artificial sensor attached to the mechanical arm of Robot Health 2.0. The question that is left to answer is: Are you ready for your appointment for Doctor Robot?