English for Nurses: Digital health technologies

Part 1: Vocabulary

Review the terms in the vocabulary list. The stressed syllables are in bold.

• artificial intelligence (AI)
• follow-up
• health information technology (IT)
• mobile health (mHealth)
• personalised medicine
• patient initiated follow-up (PIFU)
• real-time
• socially assistive robots
• telemedicine
• wearable device  
   

Part 2: Vocabulary practise

Match the terms with their correct meaning

1. ___________ : technology that is worn on the body and used to collect information about the wearer, e.g. blood pressure
2. ___________ : any technology that is used to support healthcare organisations, e.g. medical devices, IT systems and artificial intelligence
3. ___________ : tailoring the prevention and treatment of diseases of an individual based on the individual’s genetic data
4. ___________ : use of mobile technologies, e.g. mobile phones or tablets as tools and platforms for health research and healthcare delivery
5. ___________ : remote diagnosis and treatment of patients by means of telecommunications technology, e.g. video calls
6. ___________ : scheme by which patients initiate appointments when needed, based on their symptoms and individual circumstances
7. ___________ : ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings, e.g. humans or animals
8. ___________ : type of robot that interacts and communicates with humans or by following social behaviours and rules attached to its role
    

Part 3: Grammar: hyphenated compound adjectives

Match the terms with their meanings

Part 4: Reading

Read the text and answer the questions

Digital Health Technologies

Digital health technologies are used to improve health care, promote wellness and develop new medical products. They include mobile health, health information technology, wearable devices, telemedicine and personalised medicine.

Improvement in the availability of accessible healthcare is especially important for patients in remote areas who struggle to make in-person appointments with healthcare professionals. The use of digital tools can create the capacity for more appointments, for example by validating waiting lists or reconsidering the clinical need for consultations. One way is through the use of patient initiated follow-ups (PIFUs) which allow patients to make their own follow-up appointments with a healthcare professional whenever this is appropriate. Another way is through the use of telemedicine or video consultations. 

The use of wearable devices can provide valuable, real-time data, e.g. blood pressure or glucose levels giving a better understanding of how to manage a patient’s condition. 

Personalised medicine using computer data about an individual could change how research is done and target treatments for cancer or other conditions. An example of this is the creation of a digital version of a person’s heart which could be used to test different treatments before deciding on the most effective treatment for a heart condition.

Artificial intelligence in healthcare describes the application of machine learning and other technologies in the medical setting. This means that computers and other machines act on medical data and may help diagnose a disease or condition, plan a treatment protocol or monitor patients. An example of this is a recent project undertaken by a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University who are developing artificial intelligence (AI) and socially assistive robots to detect urinary tract infections (UTIs) earlier than laboratory analysis, which can take up to 48 hours.
 

Questions

1. Digital healthcare uses forms of technology that some people are familiar with
   True / False
2. One of the advantages of digital health technologies is to make access to healthcare easier.
   True /False  
3. Follow-up appointments must always be made by patients themselves.
   True / False 
4. Patients who wear a blood pressure monitoring device can have data about their blood pressure readings at any time.
   True / False
5. A person’s genetic data is needed before new medicines are developed
   True /False
6. Healthcare robots and artificial intelligence technology are being used recently in research studies
   True / False