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Ditch the Watch: Why Fabrics Are the Next Frontier for Healthcare Wearables

New York startup Nextiles has developed a form of wearable technology that is embedded into clothing and captures data using Bluetooth. The founder of Nextiles, George Sun, said, “Nextiles can supply healthcare providers and patients with real-time advanced data metrics by using a single article of smart fabric compared to wearing multiple clunky wearables.” Wearables…

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Ditch the Watch: Why Fabrics Are the Next Frontier for Healthcare Wearables

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New York startup Nextiles has developed a form of wearable technology that is embedded into clothing and captures data using Bluetooth. The founder of Nextiles, George Sun, said, “Nextiles can supply healthcare providers and patients with real-time advanced data metrics by using a single article of smart fabric compared to wearing multiple clunky wearables.”

Wearables have existed for some time, starting first with pedometers like the Fitbit and evolving into smart devices like the Apple Watch. In fact, it has been estimated that over 100 million people use an Apple Watch. As a result, there is broad acceptance for these devices that track and monitor health data.

Nextiles believes that the next frontier is to take this technology out of accessories like watches and embed it into articles of clothing. The potential ramifications of this development for the healthcare industry are particularly intriguing.

“Healthcare will be able to leverage big data, not just macro trends in health, but also personalize information,” says Dr. Jorge Barraza, a professor in the online Master of Science in Applied Psychology program at the University of Southern California. “It is currently reactive…but as the technology starts to evolve, we may soon see proactive data that can identify patterns from these sensing devices and make recommendations for optimal health and well-being customized to the individual.”

Dr. Jorge Barraza, Ph.D., is a professor in the online Master of Science in Applied Psychology program at the University of Southern California. He is also the co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Immersion, which provides scalable technologies that leverage neuroscience to quantify deeply immersive experiences.

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More nurses did not lift safety culture scores in a 205-hospital analysis

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A 2026 analysis in the Journal of Hospital Management and Health Policy combined 2021–2022 HSOPC results with AHA, HCRIS, and AHRF data across 205 hospitals and reported that small increases in nurse and physician staffing lined up with slightly lower “percent positive” patient safety culture scores in several dimensions. According to the Journal of Healthcare Management abstract hosted on Ovid, the study described a 2% decrease in positive staffing perceptions with β=−0.02 per additional nurse FTE and a −0.01 change in perceived reporting of patient safety events per additional nurse, while additional physician staffing was associated with −0.01 changes in perceptions of communication openness and organizational learning, and joint ventures were associated with a −0.03 change in perceptions of management support for safety (all p<0.05). The operational read is that adding headcount by itself does not ensure stronger safety-culture signals; hospitals also need the workflows that turn observations into closed-loop fixes, from “just culture” reporting expectations to facilities work-order follow-through, as described by Sentara Health leaders in Chief Healthcare Executive and by Health Facilities Management’s environment-of-care guidance. For health system operators, the near-term consequence shows up in how HSOPC survey targets connect to leader scorecards, rounding programs, digital reporting tools, and joint-venture governance, especially where staffing growth is driven by complexity and handoffs.

  • 01If HSOPC “percent positive” scores are a board KPI, staffing increases can move in the opposite direction unless reporting and learning loops scale too. The study’s negative coefficients are small, but they signal a measurement risk during growth.
  • 02Facilities and clinical safety cultures converge in the same pipeline: observation, reporting, triage, work order, verification. HFM Magazine’s door-lock example is the same system problem as event reporting, it is throughput and closure, not awareness.
  • 03Joint ventures can add operational complexity that dilutes perceived management support for safety. That belongs in JV governance charters and integration playbooks, not only in finance models.

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Smart ICU and ambient AI cut errors when they feed data and notes into the EMR

Smart ICU and ambient AI cut errors when they feed data and notes into the EMR

Two HIMSS26 APAC case studies point to the same operational lesson: hospitals are getting measurable gains from “smart ICU” device integration and ambient AI documentation only when those tools are tightly integrated into core clinical workflows. Pondok Indah Hospital Group in Indonesia reported reductions of up to 70% in ICU administrative errors and 40% in adverse drug reactions after integrating smart devices, according to Healthcare IT News. Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in India reported ambient AI is now used for nearly 90% of progress notes and shift handovers across five live use cases on a single EMR-integrated platform, also reported by Healthcare IT News. New JAMA Network cardiovascular research adds a parallel signal on the clinical side, with AI-enabled acquisition and interpretation approaches moving into screening and triage workflows, which raises procurement questions about validation, interoperability, and change management at the bedside.

  • 01A useful benchmark is emerging for documentation automation: “nearly 90% of progress notes and shift handovers” on ambient AI when it is deployed as one EMR-integrated platform, not a set of point tools (Healthcare IT News).
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