Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1449105
Molex 2022 21 Interviewer: Mike, tell the audience a bit about the PCS team. I would like you to direct your remarks specifically to the medical wearable technologies. Mike Deppe: The PCS team has been involved with medical wearables for well over twenty-five (25) years. Molex PCS originally started supporting our customers with user interface keypads. Molex PCS also did the control panels with flexible printed circuit assemblies as well. That has ultimately transformed our capabilities to be able to design and manufacture highly complicated electronics onto flexible circuitry that the patient can wear. Pico-Clasp Wire-to-Board Connectors Interviewer: During the pandemic, I have witnessed first-hand the reality of people talking directly to their doctors over the computer and similar devices to avoid the necessity of visiting face-to-face. What is Molex doing in this space as it pertains to telehealth? Mike Deppe: COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact in the medical space, especially concerning telehealth. This is because patients have found it extremely difficult to have live visits with their personal doctors and healthcare providers. To alleviate and mitigate this issue, Molex PCS attempts to modify how we interact with healthcare providers. We capture more patient data by relying more heavily on medical wearables or different related types of devices. The patient and the doctor may exchange this data, and each can better monitor the patient's conditions. This applies whether it is vital signs or other information that may lead to better preventative maintenance, and it allows the patient to provide that data to their healthcare provider in an ongoing and continuous manner. This ultimately helps everyone involved make better decisions while doing all this remotely. Interviewer: When you talk about medical wearables, you are talking about a piece of technology that the patient is wearing. Please tell me more about how this technology comes to be part of what the patient is wearing. Mike Deppe: Certainly. Consider the following example. There could be the end desire or goal to locate a wide variety of sensors or circuitry attached to the body to pick up different vital signs such as your heart rate and an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG). Additionally, one may be interested in body temperature, oxygen levels, and such. It would be ideal if this circuitry could employ wireless monitoring. Here at Molex, we have different specific medical applications, such as monitoring the body's temperature during surgery to help keep the patient stabilized.