The intersection of technology and healthcare is a huge passion of mine.
I really believe the future of medicine is in the home and technology will play a big role in this.
Telemedicine is already widely used and Smart Home Tech is making it possible for people to control their environments with their voices instead of their muscles.
Gait Analysis using sensors to predict falls is already in use in the home and toilets that can analyze urine and fecal matter for early UTI or cancer detection are on the way!
This past week, I spent time in Kendall square to offer my viewpoint to some very smart engineers working on futuristic projects.
If you’re not familiar with Kendall Square, it’s the most innovative square mile on the planet. That’s where you can find the Google, Meta, Pfizer, Modernas of the world!
It was inspiring to be surrounded by some of the smartest people in the world. I found the creativity and problem solving so exhilarating!
The conversations were easy and it reminded me that occupational therapists and engineers also have the same kind of brain.
We are both logical and systematic in our approaches.
We both solve problems and design solutions.
We both take the time to get to the root of the problem to produce the right fit solutions.
The difference is in our experiences.
OT are clinicians in the field interacting with real life people. We are the ones dreaming up solutions made with duct tape and wishing we had the ability to build something more sustainable.
Engineers see real life problems and design solutions to solve these problems, but they don’t know for sure if it will work in the real world or how it will be received. They wish they knew what questions to ask because potential pitfalls are often the ones that can’t be accounted for in a diagram.
We meet in the middle from 2 totally different areas of expertise and work together as a team to solve problems that will change lives. It’s such rewarding work!
OTs are an underused resource for businesses trying to understand their target clients.
We are the ones clients feel comfortable talking about the things that might cause embarrassment with other professionals like incontinence or difficultly wiping.
We treat the whole person so we also consider emotional and psychological sides of injury or disability.
We can help engineers visualize how their solution will work on real patients and help them consider the emotional side of their creations.
I encourage all businesses in the AgeTech space to consider adding an #OTBrain to your team. I’m happy to brainstorm solutions with you to see how it can work!
We really are the secret sauce to understanding exactly what the problems are!
Www.EvolvingHomes.com
