Can Your Fitness Tracker Save Your Life in the ER?

Your fitness tracker may be able to save your life in the emergency room. Changes in your heart rate from your tracker can provide doctors with valuable information.
A healthy man with a history of seizures forgot to take his medicine one morning. He had a seizure at work, and his blood pressure was high when the ambulance arrived to retrieve him.

Using his Fitbit, emergency physicians were able to spot when his atrial fibrulation was triggered and treat him for the condition.

If you use a Fitbit, be sure to sync it with your phone so the information is stored in the cloud. This will make the tracked history more accessible.

Listen in as Dr. Monika Smith shares with Dr. Leigh Vinocur what happened in the ER that day.

Additional Info

  • Segment Number: 5
  • Audio File: ER_101/1614er5e.mp3
  • Featured Speaker: Monika Smith, DO
  • Guest Bio: Dr. Monika SmithDr. Monika Smith has been an emergency medicine at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, New Jersey, since 2007. She did her residency training at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2007 and received her doctorate from Rowen University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, New Jersey.
  • Length (mins): 10
  • Waiver Received: No
  • Host: Leigh Vinocur, MD