Doctors help understand: Do wristband heart trackers actually work? A checkup. – CNET

I sort of think this is the most important quote in the article:

"If it’s just a normal person and a normal heart rhythm, I don’t think [tracking heart rate during rest] changes their life that much," Dr. Zaroff said

via Do wristband heart trackers actually work? A checkup. – CNET.

I realize there’s some emerging literature on heart rate variability (HRV) (and I have reviewed a few articles on this).

At the same time, it’s nice to leverage physicians’ knowledge like this to help people make smart choices. In this case, the physician’s knowledge being leveraged is Jonathan Zaroff, MD, a cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, Medical Center

In other words, less cheerleading for every new technology just because it’s there, more relaying the secrets of our trade (and in the process making them not so secretive) so people can use technology as well as the smartest physicians and nurses. This is of course because people we serve are a lot smarter than they are often given credit for in the rest of health care :).

I hope there will be more articles like this, with doctors and nurses diving in to understand what technology does, what it doesn’t do, and how it helps or doesn’t help health, in a place where the priority is on care coordination and integration.

Thanks Sharon Profis (@sharonprofis) and CNET!

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Ted Eytan, MD