How Tech Has Completely Transformed the Healthcare Ecosystem

Technology in the healthcare industry has come a long way ever since the invention of the stethoscope. The broader availability of the mobile internet, expansion of the global population, and the urge to adopt the latest technologies have been driving consistent changes in the healthcare industry. Indeed, technology has changed our way of living and how we battle diseases to come out stronger.

As per a detailed report by the World Economic Forum, more than a billion people would require reskilling in medical technologies by the end of the year 2030. Healthcare organizations are now leveraging the best of technology to improve patient care, enhance worker experience, and enable faster and better diagnosis through the implementation of advanced medical technology solutions.

In this article, we will look at how tech has completely transformed the healthcare ecosystem and how the industry is utilizing digital healthcare with a practical approach.

5 Ways Technology is Re-shaping the Healthcare Industry

Healthcare technologies have completely transformed how patients are now connecting with healthcare professionals, how the information is being shared among the suppliers, and how the treatment options are being chosen online. Let us check some of the top ways in which technology is transforming the healthcare industry.

1. Remote Patient Monitoring 

The advancement of technology in the healthcare industry has been a real boon to the patients. Thanks to the advent of Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM),  patients can now directly connect with physicians from the comfort of their homes. With the rise in the leading healthcare application development companies, the industry is experiencing a rapid digital transformation. 

Physicians can now know what’s wrong with patients without them being physically present in the doctor’s chamber. There are several other benefits of RPM, which include faster response time, better patient outcomes, and cost reduction.

In fact, the Remote Patient Monitoring system goes hand-in-hand with telemedicine as it also reduces the patient’s need for traveling and mitigating everyone’s exposure. 

2. IoT in Healthcare

From personal fitness trackers to surgical robots, the Internet of Things (IoT) has brought powerful technological innovations to the healthcare sector. IoT healthcare solutions have turned out to be a catalyst for bringing strategic change in the industry. 

IoT in healthcare has improved not only operational efficiencies but also patient outcomes along with reduced operational costs. Leveraging IoT solutions and other connected medical devices allows healthcare providers to monitor the patients in real-time. 

Wearables are one of the top examples of IoT in healthcare. They help monitor the patient’s status remotely. Smartwatches, for example, can help monitor a person’s heart rate and blood oxygen saturation level. Healthcare providers are now using these data to advise patients about better treatment and diagnosis. Other than smartwatches, wearables like bio patches and hearing aids are now widely utilized in the healthcare industry.

3. Artificial Intelligence

AI or Artificial Intelligence takes several forms in healthcare. One of the primary trends for healthcare in 2022 and beyond will be the utilization of machine learning for evaluating huge amounts of patient data and other information. By creating customized algorithms, the programmers or the healthcare app developers can copy human thought and write programs that seemingly make decisions, think, learn and take action. 

This, however, doesn’t mean that healthcare will be delivered to sentient robots, but it does mean that a patient’s entire medical record can now be easily accessed by a  physician. 

The physicians may also suggest meditations, diagnoses, and treatment plans based on those records. With the utilization of advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, healthcare leaders will now be able to use their findings to improvise patient outcomes. 

4. Digital Therapeutics

Patients suffering from chronic illnesses often require frequent care from physicians. In such cases, patient care includes symptom monitoring, patient education, medication adjustment, and other behavioral changes. This becomes not only time-consuming but also expensive for the patients. 

Digital therapeutics comes to the rescue here. Digital therapeutics is all about sophisticated healthcare apps that patients can access on their smartphones or personal computer. Patients go through the same rigorous testing methods and random clinical trials. The medical conditions well suited for digital therapeutics include cancer, diabetes Type 1 and Type 2, muscular-skeletal pain, anxiety, asthma, insomnia, migraine, and others.

As patients utilize this application, information about their well-being gets reported back to their physicians. This helps doctor monitor their patients without the need to visit them physically. 

5. Bioprinting or Organ Care Technology 

Organ care technology is all about taking care of the organ while it remains outside the human body. The Organ Care System is a type of device that can keep the lungs, heart, or liver outside the human body for several hours through proper care and provision of important nutrients. 

In addition to keeping the organs alive, other options have also been explored in the healthcare industry. 3D printed organs or bioprinting is a very real thing. Although it might sound like science fiction, technology has made its way to 3D printing of corneas, ears, bones, skin, and other organs.

Bioprinting has already been done in the past, but it has not yet hit the mainstream healthcare industry. However, it is very much possible with AI; organs can be better engineered to be compatible with the new host

Conclusion

Healthcare technology will continue to improve with each passing year. Efficiency and quality of care with groundbreaking technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and extended reality will be the future of healthcare. 

And, due to the many innovative technologies mentioned in the previous sections, we will definitely be able to manage stress and anxiety better.