A high-tech, but user-friendly Telemedicine Diagnostics device

The most recent addition in Telemedicine solutions is the Higo device which passed clinical trials and CE-certification procedures on the 23rd of April 2020.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic Telemedicine was one of the fastest-growing fields in Healthcare Technologies. The adoption of digital health tools—from assessment services to telemedicine—has rapidly accelerated, with healthcare organizations across the world looking to Telemedicine solutions to support their efforts against the pandemic.

Telemedicine solutions are innovations, that allow long-distance contact between a patient and clinician with the purpose of providing care, advice, education, and reminders. Regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic personal care from distance devices allows for far less exposure to harmful environments and has the potential to great cost and time reductions.

A recent (2020) study performed on a large group of people in the Netherlands showed that 38% of them chose not to visit a doctor out of fear to get infected with the coronavirus.

Studio Mango collaborated with Zign Innovations to develop Higo, a high-tech, but user-friendly, Telemedicine Diagnostics device for the general population which can monitor a huge amount of symptoms at home and enables digital contact with a certified clinician. The kicker is that during the clinical trials it was discovered that this same device is also capable of monitoring and detection of COVID-19.

Besides being a very helpful tool to determine at home whatever illness you might have or how to treat an injury, Higo is a great solution for parents as well. One of the most stressful moments a parent can have is when their young child gets sick and not knowing what is wrong with their little one. Often so, symptoms of sickness can occur in the middle of the night or in weekends, when clinicians are not readily available and thus leading to even more stress. Understandably nobody wants to wait in a fully packed emergency room where there is an additional risk of getting in contact with more viruses and bacteria.

Higo is the digital doctor that fits in the palm of your hand; a Telemedicine Diagnostics device with certified clinicians providing a diagnosis from the Higo back office who are available 24/7.

In a real-life scenario when a child wakes up feeling sick in the middle of the night, a parent can perform several body exams guided by this device. The data of these body exams are sent to the available clinicians at the Higo back office where they will advise parents on how to provide care and what steps to take next; these can be recommendations for simple treatments, a prescription to collect from the pharmacy or an e-referral to consult a particular specialist.

All of this can be done from the comfort of your home without the need of visiting the emergency room. As a bonus Telemedicine Devices also relieve the workload in emergency rooms as there is, for example, no need for personal visits if the online clinician has diagnosed that only medication is required.

So, what makes this device so innovative? Higo brings 9 different exams together in one affordable solution aimed for mass-market adaptation. Each of these exams had to be clinically validated as clinicians at the Higo back office would be basing their diagnosis on the data the devices are sending to them.

Studio Mango worked alongside the teams of Higo, the electronics developer (Zign Innovations), and an array of doctors and parents throughout all design stages. Quickly validating Proof Of Concept prototypes and moving to a fully integrated working prototype within a time frame of 9 months!

In this “pressure cooker” of design and engineering the team worked on the aesthetic design, ergonomics, opto-mechanical engineering, integration of electronics, Graphic User Interface (GUI), design for manufacturing, design for assembly, certification procedures and setting up production of the device.

Higo was introduced during the 2019 Medical trade show in Germany. In 2020 the device and 24/7 back office will be implemented nationwide in Poland for further pilots and studies in collaboration with several insurance companies.

Future additions for different types of specific illnesses are already in the pipeline, this also includes a COVID-19 version as the current device can already detect symptoms through the data of the digital stethoscope and IR thermometer. Additionally AI and Machine Learning Algorithms will be embedded in order to provide an on the spot prognosis and customized medical profiling.

However, we must stipulate that the COVID-19 and AI updated versions will take quite some additional development and clinical validating efforts before any mass introductions can be considered.