We spend a great deal of time and effort helping organisations understand the value of their healthcare products and services using the best data available. We work with government, commercial companies, academia, and the NHS, and we find that they often ask us the same question, which is: can you quantify the benefit of our work?
A new area of research is allowing patients to have access to their own data. So we thought it would be a great idea to trial fitness commitment devices to see what it is like to use them on a daily basis. We bought our team fitness trackers and the whole office started using them in August.
We have been looking at a few key questions: will the fitness trackers motivate our team to get fitter and healthier? Will they help us to make better choices in terms of diet and exercise? Our hypothesis is that they will. Given that we are data scientists, we wanted to test this theory in the best possible way – by collecting and analysing our own fitness data.
Since we started using the fitness trackers, we have already noticed that having access to group data has made us competitive – our number of steps per day is increasing week-on-week, and we are enjoying the incentive to keep moving as summer turns into a chilly autumn. Not only are we monitoring our own data, but we are using the fitness tracker apps to support and encourage others in the team. On the back of our new fitness drive, we have started a company-funded fruit bowl. Two people in our office have also quit smoking and are feeling the benefits of that lifestyle change combined with their higher activity levels.
We firmly believe that it is our job to support our work with the most robust data possible. In the same way, we are proud to support our team with the extra motivation they need to stay healthy and happy.
Elisabeth Adams, Managing Director; Aquarius Population Health