So in the spirit of transparency; I snore. Apparently, I have snored for a long time. My snoring was the cause of some deep relationship issues in previous lives! About 20 years ago I went to a sleep lab and started using a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine that keeps my throat open as I sleep and lowers the incidence of snoring and related medical side effects tremendously. It has improved my personal relationships remarkably as well. A positive impact any way you look at it!
Recently, I came to the conclusion that I need a new sleep machine. Mine is now over 5 years old and the progress in sleep technology is amazing. About a week ago I called my sleep machine provider and we met to review my needs. The Ontario Government provides grants to offset the cost of these machines, but I need a prescription from the sleep lab to get a new machine.
In the past, I would have had to book an overnight visit to the sleep clinic where they would monitor my sleep through several dozen electrodes and provide me with a diagnosis on my sleep patterns and behaviour. It often took several months to get an appointment. With COVID there are no overnight sleep tests being done. Instead they are using advance digital technology. This is where the data part comes in.
It seems that the current generation of sleep machines now have "smart" technology. The CPAP units now have a built in microchip that tracks your sleep patterns, an ability to automatically monitor and adjust air pressures and have a wireless cell phone chip to allow remote access to the data. The machine has sufficient onboard memory to record your sleep data over multiple nights.
To get my new sleep machine, I will be loaned one of these "smart" CPAP machines, use it for two weeks, have the data remotely accessed, analysed by the sleep lab and a prescription given for a new upgraded machine. In other words, the prescription decision is being driven by remote data gathering without the need for an inconvenient overnight lab visit. Furthermore, that data is aggregated into longitudinal studies on sleep patterns experienced by patients over time, contributing to better diagnosis and better health outcomes.
The lesson here is that processes that used to take high levels of dedicated infrastructure and personal inconvenience, have been completely transformed through data and digital technology. The ability to contribute to better health outcomes at the individual patient level has major implications for enhancing health in general. How many processes do we interact with on a daily basis that could be enhanced through data collection and analysis that would contribute to more positive impacts? What processes are we working with today that we need to examine and improve with data driven decisions?
Next steps: look around your world and find three areas in your life and work that could benefit from better data analytics and contribute to better decisions and impact.
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Feel free to contact me by email or follow me on LinkedIn. For further information on data driven impact and data driven government, visit my website at www.datadrivengovernment.ca.
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