The current 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak makes us once again aware how crucial early diagnosis and early intervention is.
Early treatment is crucial in almost any disease. And very difficult to achieve.
An example like COVID-19, a virus infection with contagious incubation periods of 2-14 days, shows that medicine where symptomatic episodes only are the entry for a patient to enter the health care system is leading to huge impact for that particular patient, but also for society and economy.
The global outbreak (according to World Economic Forum, bigger than previous SARS and MERS).
As a citizen, I am confused. What should I do? - Should I hide at home, avoid any social contacts, bunker food and supplies, and prepare for a longer period in isolation.
At work, teleworking models become more and more popular. And supposedly suddenly web-conferences work, even in settings which were meant to essentially require face to face interaction.
Is this the chance for internet communication tools to raise in importance. Do usability aspects which were insurmountable pains and hurdles suddenly vanish?
I hope that the current situation and raising focus on respective technological tools will lead to more focus on research and development of respective tools and improve on user experience accordingly.
On the other hand, the big problem to solve is early diagnosis or screening of the population for infections during asymptomatic phase of episodes.
A quick literature search was surprising. The proven best tools recommended for screening and early diagnosis are probably also the most expensive ones in terms of cost, and not necessarily the most appealing in terms of user experience.
There are several studies concluding that chest computer tomography should be used for screening and early diagnosis of infected patients. The reported sensitivities are 98%.
For sure an effective approach, however at substantial cost if entire populations shall be screened.
And, for a screening effort I doubt that CT is really a citizen friendly intervention.
One would think that blood or throat swab testing using RT-PCR or similar would be much more suited for screening.
Now, from a citizen user experience point of view, what is needed?
1) an alerting system identifying sub-populations at risk based.
2) an easy test to diagnose if a person is infected or not.
I am sure there are creative ideas for 1). By tracking and measuring social interactions and over time more and more learn how infections spread until one is in the position to actually predict populations at risk.
For 2) an effective testing protocol is required which requires a simply to be collected sample from a citizen, which can be measured in a decentralised setting, providing immediate results, and being able to identify infected patients shortly after infection.
I still believe that it is an illusion to hope for the magic dream of the medical tricorder that detects everything within seconds. That would be user experience. Both, for medical professionals and even more for patients!
The medical tricorder was equipped with sensors and analysis software tailored for medical diagnostic purposes.
A feature set virtually invented in the 1970ies as part of the Starfleet TV episodes.
The tricorder a device delivering maximum diagnostic user experience.
Early treatment is crucial in almost any disease. And very difficult to achieve.
An example like COVID-19, a virus infection with contagious incubation periods of 2-14 days, shows that medicine where symptomatic episodes only are the entry for a patient to enter the health care system is leading to huge impact for that particular patient, but also for society and economy.
The global outbreak (according to World Economic Forum, bigger than previous SARS and MERS).
As a citizen, I am confused. What should I do? - Should I hide at home, avoid any social contacts, bunker food and supplies, and prepare for a longer period in isolation.
At work, teleworking models become more and more popular. And supposedly suddenly web-conferences work, even in settings which were meant to essentially require face to face interaction.
Is this the chance for internet communication tools to raise in importance. Do usability aspects which were insurmountable pains and hurdles suddenly vanish?
I hope that the current situation and raising focus on respective technological tools will lead to more focus on research and development of respective tools and improve on user experience accordingly.
On the other hand, the big problem to solve is early diagnosis or screening of the population for infections during asymptomatic phase of episodes.
A quick literature search was surprising. The proven best tools recommended for screening and early diagnosis are probably also the most expensive ones in terms of cost, and not necessarily the most appealing in terms of user experience.
There are several studies concluding that chest computer tomography should be used for screening and early diagnosis of infected patients. The reported sensitivities are 98%.
For sure an effective approach, however at substantial cost if entire populations shall be screened.
And, for a screening effort I doubt that CT is really a citizen friendly intervention.
One would think that blood or throat swab testing using RT-PCR or similar would be much more suited for screening.
Now, from a citizen user experience point of view, what is needed?
1) an alerting system identifying sub-populations at risk based.
2) an easy test to diagnose if a person is infected or not.
I am sure there are creative ideas for 1). By tracking and measuring social interactions and over time more and more learn how infections spread until one is in the position to actually predict populations at risk.
For 2) an effective testing protocol is required which requires a simply to be collected sample from a citizen, which can be measured in a decentralised setting, providing immediate results, and being able to identify infected patients shortly after infection.
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| Medical tricorder. |
The medical tricorder was equipped with sensors and analysis software tailored for medical diagnostic purposes.
A feature set virtually invented in the 1970ies as part of the Starfleet TV episodes.
The tricorder a device delivering maximum diagnostic user experience.
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