IBM Watson has been introduced in several hospitals around the country and is becoming the primary AI database in Medicine. On June 26, 2018 IBM made a presentation at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), regarding how IBM Watson Health’s AI technology can be used to help people with diabetes make more informed and safe decisions (“IBM Watson Health Showcases Health Technology Advancements at American Diabetes Association’s 78th Scientific Sessions,” 2018). IBM, with a partnership with Medtronic, created a app, Sugar.IQ™, that helps individuals with diabetes track and manage their intake, while using advice provided by the app (“IBM Watson Health Showcases Health Technology Advancements at American Diabetes Association’s 78th Scientific Sessions,” 2018). Diabetes patients must constantly manage their sugar intake and keep track of the food they consume. Sugar.IQ™ transfers the data and interacts with the Guardian™ Connect Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) system which analyzes glucose, insulin, food, and other data in real time and provides users feedback on how to improve their lifestyle and manage their diabetes (“IBM Watson Health Showcases Health Technology Advancements at American Diabetes Association’s 78th Scientific Sessions,” 2018). The app is a tool for patients to receive personalized insights about their daily diet and advice to make informed and healthy decisions based on their glucose levels. This is a major advancement in Modern Medicine, because apps like Sugar.IQ™ encourage patients to monitor and have knowledge about their own health in real time, rather than being updated only when visiting the doctor, a couple months or days in the year. In a presentation by Medtronic, they found that diabetes patients using Sugar.IQ™ spent 36 more minutes per day in a healthy glucose range, 30 minutes less time in hyperglycemia (greater than 180 mg/dL) and 6 minutes less time in hypoglycemia (less than 60 mg/dL) (“IBM Watson Health Showcases Health Technology Advancements at American Diabetes Association’s 78th Scientific Sessions,” 2018). Diabetes is a global illness that affects many around the Earth in all different ages and requires 24-hour attention. Utilizing Sugar.IQ™ as a digital doctor is helping people take better control of their daily health, while also allowing doctors to monitor their patient’s health through a cloud, decreasing the number of visits and allowing doctors to have an up-to-date health status of patients who may have high-risk diabetes. IBM Watson has improved efficiency and increased successful treatments, therefore increasing more out-patient success. Currently, IBM Watson is primarily being used as a data storage for patient medical information. However, IBMs goal is to continue advancing the system and use it to scan genetic information of brain cancer patients, identify patient mutation data, and match the information to tailored clinical plans (Tsang et al., 2017).
(A screenshot of the Sugar.IQ app homescreen is provided below)
