Wearable electronic devices are popular. Smart and always present, wearables now monitor the health data of more than 30% of the German population.
According to a survey by Bitkom, around 35% of Germans use them, 70% are interested in them and 72% welcome medical applications. The market is growing: according to Statista, around 5.84 million wearables were sold in 2024. This opens up great opportunities for the digital health sector.
The possibilities for medical applications are vast and complement the ongoing digitalisation in the healthcare sector. Networks enable devices to exchange data with each other via the Internet (IoT, Internet of Things) and are referred to as the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) as a sub-area of the networking of medical devices and applications. This enables completely new care models to be implemented in clinics, practices and research. Wearables can, for example, be connected to devices in a hospital and lead to a completely new form of medicine in the diagnosis and care of patients. This will also change job profiles. While traditional areas of care will be relieved, new specialised professions will emerge at the interface between IT, nursing, diagnostics and data analysis.
At the same time, the potential risks of errors and manipulation must be carefully considered as challenges in the use of digital devices. Both will be explained here.
Advantages and applications of wearables in medicine
The smartwatch is certainly the best-known wearable because it is very common in consumer technology. But rings and smart textiles are also widely used in the fitness sector, for example. Medicine already uses these applications in practice and research and has been expanded to include smart plasters and biosensor patches.
In addition to smartwatches and smartbands, there are now smart rings, intelligent textiles, in-ear sensors, biosensor patches and smart plasters that not only enable the monitoring of patients' bodily functions, but can also transmit therapeutic measures.
At the world's largest medical trade fair, Medica, a separate stand was dedicated to wearables and smart technologies in medicine wearables and smart technologies in medicine in 2024.
Measurement of bodily functions
On the one hand, these wearable computer technologies can constantly monitor bodily functions such as blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation. This supports diagnoses and communicates abnormalities by sending the data directly to the patient's mobile phone or the attending physician via a cloud.
Monitoring patients
In post-operative treatment, wearables can also support rehabilitation by measuring patients' vital signs. This monitoring represents a major step towards remote medicine through remote patient monitoring and significantly reduces the burden on the healthcare system.
Relieving the burden on nursing staff
Wearables can therefore shorten hospital stays in the future and relieve the burden on nursing staff or allow them to be deployed elsewhere. Digital health and telehealth can continue to advance through wearables, thereby personalising medicine.
Enabling remote work for doctors
Interaction with doctors is also possible without having to treat patients on an outpatient or inpatient basis. This enables medical professionals to carry out their work independently of location and supports the concept of remote work in healthcare remote work in healthcare.
Reliable medication for chronic diseases
In addition, constant measurements can help patients adjust their medication. Especially in the case of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure or diabetes, monitoring can be greatly simplified, thereby improving reliability. To this end, the Federal Ministry is conducting research into whether wearables are suitable for Monitoring and Management of Long COVID (U-WaTCH) and, if so, how.
Data for research
Finally, wearables provide data that is useful for research. Precisely because Germany has been very cautious in advancing digitalisation in healthcare compared to other countries, this aspect should also be taken into account. In some countries, health data has been made available for research for some time, e.g. in Israel, Finland and Estonia.
These countries have been collecting digital health data or using electronic patient records for over 20 years. Both technically and legally, Germany can learn a lot from these and other countries on the path to digital healthcare.
This leads to the critical issue of security and data protection in the medical use of wearables.
Challenges of integrating wearables
Data protection
Data protection regulations such as the GDPR in Europe already regulate the use of wearables. Data must be encrypted and shared for specific purposes, and the patient's consent is required.
Precisely because Germany is not yet particularly advanced in the digitisation of healthcare, the question of interoperability, especially with patient records (EPA), is important to answer.
Data quality
Apart from that, it is important to obtain ‘good’ data from the devices. Doctors and nurses must therefore monitor what data is collected.
Liability
In addition, there is the question of liability, for example in the event of a misdiagnosis. The interoperability of digital health applications (DiGA) – i.e. the ability of systems to communicate smoothly with each other – is still limited. However, politicians are already regulating the requirements and eligibility for reimbursement by health insurance companies through the Digital Application Regulations (DiGAV).
Cyber security
In 2023, a report was also published on the 'Security of wearables with medical sub-functions' (SiWamed). This project was created by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) to investigate the cyber security of wearables with regard to the transmission of sensitive health data. A total of 34 different vulnerabilities were found in 10 wearables examined, occurring a total of 116 times and predominantly classified as ‘medium potential damage’. As this chart shows, every category of wearables is equally affected.
The confidentiality and integrity of health data is therefore not yet guaranteed. This means that there is still insufficient protection against manipulation or unwanted disclosure. Companies should pay particular attention to this in both development and application. This is because, especially when linking to digital health records, which are currently being activated, technical possibilities must be implemented while at the same time ensuring their security. One problem, as reported shortly after the law came into force: 'Hackers are also cracking the improved protection of electronic patient records.'.
Impact of wearables on the employment structure in the healthcare industry
The issues of data security and data use therefore present new challenges for the healthcare sector and the life sciences industry. In addition, data must be read and processed, and its potential interoperability must be checked and managed. As a result, professions such as digital health analyst (health data analyst), who collects and interprets data, and Digital Health Consultant, who advises companies and hospitals on digital health applications such as digital patient assistance, are becoming important. In addition, there are specialists who deal directly with wearables, implement them, monitor them and document their success, such as app managers. In telemedicine, all professionals, from doctors to nursing staff, can also receive further training. In research and development, digital clinical trial managers and data protection and ethics consultants will become important.
These professions are increasingly being offered in training or further education and may also be of interest for those looking to change industries. In order to successfully find the right candidates, it is advisable to work with a recruitment consultancy. They can provide support in the selection process, as well as in conducting interviews and hiring.
Conclusion
The integration of medical wearable data into patient care offers enormous opportunities for healthcare. Wearables are already helping doctors and nursing staff with the diagnosis and rehabilitation of patients and the prevention of diseases. The more digitisation expands and networking through IoMT progresses, the more jobs could even be replaced. At the same time, new demands on staff and possible new job profiles are emerging.
Finally, wearables can also optimise work organisation itself by measuring the ‘physical and mental state’ of employees and dynamically rotating them in the workplace accordingly.
For companies in the healthcare sector, this means having to adapt flexibly to digitalisation in general and the use of wearables in particular. In the life sciences industry, too, potential data from electronic patient records, for example, will open up new possibilities for the application of wearables and research and development.
The interoperability of data will also pose a major challenge in terms of personnel, in order to be well positioned technically, legally and qualitatively during this transformation.
It is therefore worthwhile to work with a personnel consultancy to define competence profiles, identify career changers, provide further training or fill digital interface positions. Sinceritas supports your company in both the organisational and planning aspects of recruiting.
