The future of healthcare may be on the verge of a revolution. You might have heard a buzz about exciting new technologies peering over the horizon: Nanotech, AI, 3D Printing, VR/AR, and Robotics – just to name a few. Indeed, many of them are already widely used. Check your wrist. Are you wearing a smartwatch? Is it monitoring your heart rate, steps, and sleep quality?

The global population just passed 8 billion. People are living longer and therefore require increased medical attention as their health deteriorates. In turn, this places a huge strain on overworked hospital and care workers. So, how can tech alleviate this?

Healthcare is becoming increasingly data-driven and interoperable, with more agency for the individual. As technology, especially traditional “home” tech, becomes smarter, slicker, and more accessible, the boundaries between home care and hospital care will blur. This could save valuable time and resources for both patients and physicians.

Preventive vs. Reactive
Now, if you show symptoms of an illness, you would go to the doctor for the diagnosis or medicine. What if you could stop that sickness before it even began? In an interview with the OPPO Global Community, Doctor Leo Zeng, Head of OPPO Health Lab, expressed this need for preventive measures:

"We at OPPO believe that the transition from reactive medicine to a more proactive preventive health management approach that focuses on making changes to lifestyle can have profound effects. By giving users access to their daily health data and offering professional assessments of the data over the long term, our hope is that we can help prevent or manage diseases from the beginning."

By adopting this approach, consumers can detect problems earlier, accurately, and conveniently while simultaneously reducing the workload of hospitals. But what specific kind of tech could achieve this?

Meet OHealth H1
At OPPO INNO Day 2022, Ye Yuchen introduced a brand-new smart healthcare device, the OHealth H1. The H1, in simple terms, is a Family Health Monitor designed to fit neatly in your home environment. It’s compact, curved, and created with a human-centric focus. If the future of health is smart home devices, they need to be warm and inviting in aesthetic. But that’s just the good looks - what does it do?

6 in 1
Why have one essential function when you can have six? The H1 targets six critical health factors: blood oxygen, ECG, cardiopulmonary auscultation, heart rate, sleep, and body temperature.

The device measures these elements with reliable accuracy, using a variety of sensors and non-invasive examination methods:
• PPG (Photoplethysmography) is used on the fingertips to detect blood oxygen levels. It’s more accurate than the smartwatch wrist method.
• H1’s ECG sensor’s stainless-steel electrodes, coupled with OPPO’s ECG algorithm, can detect arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, and premature heartbeats.
• The auscultation feature works as an easy-to-use electronic stethoscope (more on that later).
• Hold the H1 with your right hand and place a left-handed finger on the sensor to accurately measure heart rate.
• For sleep monitoring, you don’t need to wear the device. Just place the H1 close to your pillow, and its high SNR Inertial Measurement Unit will do the rest.
• Infrared sensors combine forehead and room temperature measurements to provide accurate body temperature readings.

The Smart Stethoscope
It’s the iconic piece of a doctor’s toolkit, often draped around their neck. Inhale, exhale, and cough. With the H1, you can easily conduct an examination of yourself. Simply place the device on your chest and follow the movement instructions. The H1 will record the sounds of your heart and lungs with enough precision for your doctor to provide a diagnosis. Just send the data over via the H1 app.

Tune in to Telemedicine
The rough interpretation of telemedicine is “remote treatment.” Essentially, it’s the digital transmission of medical data between patients and doctors. With the development of the H1 app, the H1 device will be able to send reliable data to the consultant, who can interpret and diagnose the condition. For those who often worry if something feels off, this method could provide quicker peace of mind while also keeping detailed health records.

If doctors, clinics, and hospitals adopt this smarter healthcare globally, then patients can have faster access to advice and even treatment. Of course, the more connected the medical ecosphere is, the easier it is to share data. Not only is this more convenient for patients and healthcare workers, but it may also help to detect illnesses in their early stages. Preventative rather than reactive.

Aided by AI
OPPO takes AI research seriously and coupling that exploration with healthcare algorithms can reap bountiful rewards. The H1 AI could potentially spot abnormalities in ECGs and cardiopulmonary sounds. In primary health screenings, this could prove vital in early illness detection while simultaneously reducing the burden of overstretched health services.

In safe hands
Of course, if a switch to telemedicine and AI-based diagnoses occurs, there will be security concerns. Personal health data is incredibly private and sensitive. This is why H1 data is stored locally and will only transmit to the cloud platform after user authorization. It will also only be available to doctors for the specific purpose of diagnosis. Personal data will be encrypted and stored on OPPO’s Health Cloud Platform, complying with EU GDPR data privacy and security regulations. Safe and sound on the cloud.

Look to the future
Can you imagine it? You wake up bright and early with your smart healthcare device having generated a detailed sleep report. You check your blood oxygen, heart rate, and body temp. If there’s no problem, you’ve saved yourself a trip to the hospital. If there is, you’ve detected it nice and early.

OPPO INNO Day always brings innovation, as the name implies. But this new type of smart health device could bring about a complete rethink of how we look after ourselves. With boundary-pushing tech like the H1, the future might be closer than you think.

This was all revealed on OPPO INNO Day 2022. For all the details, click here.