Technology has always been a major player in the healthcare industry. From patient care to administrative tasks, technology has made a significant impact on how healthcare is delivered. In recent years, there has been a surge in new health technologies that are quickly transforming the healthcare landscape.
Here are some of the most game-changing health technologies that are revolutionizing healthcare for the better.
1. Telehealth
Telehealth refers to health care services that incorporate the use of video technology. Using video technology in healthcare is a highly effective method of providing fast and timely feedback on patients’ conditions, which leads to better patient outcomes.
2. Mobile Health
Virtual reality has long been used as a tool for training surgeons, but now the same technology is being used for patient care. The patient’s room can be a virtual reality simulation of the operating room and it allows hospital staff to observe their work through a 360-degree screen from anywhere around the hospital or from home.
3. Patient Connected Healthcare
Bringing the concept of “teach a man to fish” to healthcare, patient connected healthcare or consumer-centred healthcare tools that encourage collaboration between the patient and their doctor. These tools allow doctors to digitally track patient records and maintain them on a digital network, e-prescribing medicines, ordering lab tests and monitoring a patient’s condition at home.
4. Digital Health Records
Electronic health records help keep track of all your vaccinations, prescription info, allergies and other important personal data. If you need to see a new doctor or visit the hospital for an appointment, you simply upload your medical records electronically which makes it so much easier than carrying paper files around.
5. Wearable Health Technology
There are a number of wearable health technologies that are revolutionizing healthcare, including smartwatches, brainwave sensors and wearables that track your physical activity. The most advanced wearables can actually predict early signs of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
6. Health Data Analytics
Data analytics is a new concept in healthcare with the purpose of analyzing the vast amounts of data that is produced by the health industry. This data can be used to implement better clinical practices or develop more effective marketing campaigns for healthcare providers. It is estimated that the diagnostics sector employs close to 30,000 people in Europe.
7. Telemedicine
Telemedicine is one of the best health technologies to have hit the healthcare industry. It allows you to connect with a doctor via Skype or other video conferencing services. You can view your doctor’s body language and facial expressions, which helps improve your quality of care and address your diseases faster.
8. Wearable Fitness Devices
No matter how much you work out, there is always room for improvement. Fitness wearables are designed to monitor your physical activity and guide you on how to get the most out of your workouts by targeting certain areas of your body or pushing yourself further.
In 2003, the UK medical device market was estimated to be worth more than £6 billion (calculated as UK sales plus the net balance of imports over exports).
9. Digital Medicine
Digital medicine is the next step in the evolution of e-health. It uses digital health records and data analytics to give sufferers a complete view of their health history. This leads to better healthcare and early detection of diseases.
10. Electronic Medical Records
The use of electronic medical records is on the rise as more and more doctors opt for this system over paper files. EMRs make it easier for doctors to access a patient’s previous medical history, which can be critical in emergencies or when a patient switches doctors.
Health Information Technology (HIT)
Health information technology (HIT) is the application of information processing involving both computer hardware and software that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and use of health care information, data, and knowledge for communication and decision making.
HIT is a rapidly growing field that has the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare and improve the quality of patient care. One area where HIT can potentially have a major impact is in reducing medication errors. Medication errors are a serious problem in healthcare.
The healthcare industry has been relying on electronic health records to store patient data for many years now. These records are used by medical professionals to track a patient’s medical history and make treatment decisions.
As healthcare professionals continue to face pressure to do more with less, medical technology is becoming increasingly important. Healthcare providers are turning to healthcare technology to help improve patient safety and efficiency.
Improved Population Health Management
Thinking about health care in a broader sense, it’s clear that technology can’t solve everything, especially when we consider the fact that our population is ageing. The human genome, which was initially sequenced in 2003, revolutionised genetic research.
In today’s world of healthcare, technology is at the very least supporting improvement in several areas as outlined below:
1. People are living longer and healthier lives than ever before due to medical advances which has resulted in an older population. With an increasing number of people living into their 90s and 100s, health authorities are struggling to cope with this new demographic.
2. Practices have been developed to help older patients live more independently for longer (the so-called “ageing well” movement). Technology can help in this area by providing older people with tools and devices to help them continue living independently for longer, for example, smart home technology or wearable devices.
3. Technology has also helped improve the way social services work with older people, especially when it comes to monitoring their health care needs and ensuring they receive the healthcare they need when they need it.
4. The rise in online gaming is helping patients suffering from dementia as research suggests that playing computer games can lead to an improvement in mental health and brain function among patients.
Improved Patient Care and Worker Efficiency
For doctors and nurses, technology can also play a significant role in improving the way they work, especially in regard to their workflows. For example, telehealth technology allows medical staff to maintain contact with patients and conduct consultations online via video calls or email. This gives patients the ability to monitor their own health and manages their own care at all times, regardless of where they are located.
Improving the flow of information throughout all areas of healthcare not only benefits patients but also helps doctors and other medical staff more effectively manage the healthcare process as a whole. Creating more efficient workflows throughout the system, it gives health care professionals more time to spend on caring for patients rather than paperwork.
Healthcare Industry Technology Solutions
Digital infrastructure and technology bring a wide range of benefits to the healthcare industry, including better patient outcomes, improved population health management and improved worker efficiency.
However, it’s clear that there are still some challenges facing the digital transformation of healthcare across the world. These include:
1. Security & Privacy Risks
The healthcare industry is one of the most secure industries in the world but as technology continues to improve itself there will undoubtedly be additional security risks in future.
2. Inefficient Systems
Many hospitals are still using outdated IT systems and processes, which leads to a number of inefficiencies throughout the entire functional value chain within the hospital environment.
3. Lack of Funding
This represents an enormous financial burden on governments and companies alike, which could lead to more funding challenges in the future.
4. Siloed Information
Healthcare data is often scattered throughout multiple systems, which makes it difficult for doctors and health care professionals to access this data in real-time and use it for analysis or decision making.
5. An Aging Workforce
As the healthcare industry continues to develop, there is an increasing need for skilled workers and new technology experts to join the industry, especially with regard to cybersecurity specialists and data analysts.
Despite these challenges, healthcare continues to use technology to improve the way it operates and deliver better patient outcomes. We see it already at work in digital health platforms, telehealth and other digital initiatives, but we’ll see more applications emerge over time as digital infrastructure grows. Centralized services are likely to be superseded by decentralized health data services over time.
Cloud Computing in Healthcare
Cloud computing has become one of the most popular computing models, as it offers a number of benefits over other technologies. Cloud computing is a platform that allows users to store and access data via the internet. It’s one of the fastest-growing trends in healthcare due to its many benefits, such as:
1. Scalability
The cloud provides a greater level of scalability than other technologies. This can be especially useful in healthcare applications, which are often subject to large spikes in data usage.
2. Risk Reduction
Cloud platforms lower the risk for software vulnerabilities since updates and patches are automatically applied by the cloud provider, which means no more complex IT maintenance for you!
3. Turnkey Solution
Cloud solutions don’t require a lot of technical expertise to run, which means it’s easy for your non-IT team to set up and deliver the service.
4. Flexibility
If you want to switch your cloud services provider, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. This allows for a quick transfer of data between cloud services providers and it also makes it possible for the same applications on different platforms.
5. Reduced Costs
Compared to traditional software packages, cloud-based technology is more cost-effective as its price is based on usage rather than purchasing one-off licenses or upfront payments.
6. Scalable Storage Space
With cloud-based technology, you pay for storage only whenever you need it. This means that if your organization has a slow period, you can reduce the amount of storage space you’re using, which will save money on your cloud budget.
7. Geotargeting
Cloud computing allows users to store and manage their data in different geographical locations around the world in order to reduce latency and improve data integrity.
8. Security
Cloud providers make sure that sensitive data is stored in secure servers, however, this may be less of an issue for some environments such as healthcare as most of the data stored is already encrypted and highly regulated by government bodies.
Benefits of Technology in Healthcare
In 2005, the global diagnostics market was expected to be worth $28.6 billion. The benefits of technology in healthcare are endless and they include the following:
1. Data Accessibility
Technology has made it possible to store data in a number of different formats, making it easier than ever to share this data with other stakeholders, including doctors and patients.
2. Enhanced Collaboration
Many patients need to collaborate with their doctors to get a clear view of their medical history, which is why technology has helped integrate medical records more closely with social networks.
3. Patient Safety
Privacy is a big concern for many patients when it comes to the sharing of their personal data online due to fears about security and hacking, however, technology has been found to be safer than other forms of communication such as email or faxes.
4. More Efficient Treatment
Technology can also give doctors an overall view of a patient’s condition and medical history, which enables them to provide more efficient treatment.
5. Cost-Effectiveness
The use of technology in healthcare has been shown to lead to both financial and social benefits, especially in developing countries where medical care is often underfunded or provided by non-professional staff.
6. Faster Access to Care
Technology allows patients to connect with their doctors instantly via the internet, regardless of their location which leads to a faster access to treatment.
7. Better Health Management
The use of mobile technology has allowed patients to more closely monitor their overall health, allowing them to manage their conditions better.
8. Improved Workflows
Technology has simplified many workflows in healthcare and it’s even enabled some processes, such as prescription writing and approval, which were previously manual tasks to be carried out entirely online.
9. Patient Training
Technology allows doctors to target patient education campaigns directly to the relevant individuals, which is a much more effective way of getting information across.
10. Improved Diagnosis
Technology has also led to faster detection of diseases and a better understanding of the symptoms involved. According to studies conducted in the United States, diagnostic gadgets influence up to 70% of healthcare decisions (Lewin report).
11. Collaborative Research
Technology has also helped improve communication between researchers globally, enabling them to share data and collaborate more effectively on research projects.
The Future of Healthcare
Technology is constantly developing, which is why it can be difficult to predict what will come next in the world of healthcare. More than 75% of physicians believe that harnessing patient education and engagement technology can help improve the patient experience, according to the findings of a recent survey of 200 U.S. physicians done by PatientPoint and Digital Health Coalition.
However, there are a few trends that are likely to be significant influences on the world of e-health and digital medicine in the years ahead:
1. Wearables
The use of wearable technology is increasing every day as more companies enter this new market niche. Wearable devices include fitness trackers, smartwatches and smart glasses, while they are all designed to help users improve their health and well-being.
2. Smart Pills
Smart pills use a digital pill with a microchip to monitor the patient’s health and transmit data back to the doctor via a digital pill with a microchip, for example for blood pressure monitoring or measuring heart rate.
3. Wearable Applications
Wearable technology has been greatly advanced by the use of wearables designed to help people manage their overall health, such as wearable devices that help diabetics stay on top of their blood sugar levels or sleep trackers for patients suffering from insomnia.
4. Digital Twins
These are computer models of a person’s body that help doctors understand the condition of every organ inside the patient’s body. Digital twins can help predict the state of a patient based on their existing medical data or enable doctors to simulate an intervention beforehand.
5. Pet Health Monitoring
An increasing number of people use technology to monitor their pets’ overall health, allowing them to stay on top of any issues before they get too serious and deal with them early on when possible.
Last Updated on October 9, 2023 by Parina Parmar
