The Future of Healthcare Technology

The Current State of Global Healthcare

The healthcare industry has changed a lot in the last couple of years. Covid-19 has overwhelmed healthcare organisations across the world and a lot of potentially dangerous diseases have also been pushed to the sideline. One great thing that has come out of this pandemic is the fact that there has been a growing level of access to things such as digital appointments and even prescriptions.  Consumers are now demanding to have more digitalised healthcare services, and this is encouraging various medical establishments to adopt analytics, cloud storage and digital tools. The focus is shifting to view healthcare as being an overall image of a person’s wellbeing, as opposed to their physical health alone.

How Have Things Changed in the Last Decade

Although it is important to look to the future changes that could be taking place, it is also important to look at the changes that have already come to pass. This will make it easier to anticipate future trends while also raising the discussion of some of the biggest changes that have influenced healthcare for the better.

Electronic Records

Since electronic records were introduced, it has become easier for medical professionals to seamlessly share the medical history of anyone in the world. Records are no longer at risk of being lost and on top of this, a doctor can assess a patient based on their background, previous care and prescription. Electronic records also allow patients to keep track of their own data.

Remote Monitoring

Remote monitoring gives doctors the chance to see how their patients are doing without them needing to be present. This means that doctors and nurses can help a lot of patients at once and it also means that patients can leave hospital earlier as they can be monitored from a distance. Live chat on healthcare websites is also becoming more prominent, as admin staff can schedule more appointments in less time, ensuring that people never go without the care they need.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine consists of various remote clinics where the doctor or even the healthcare provider can communicate with a patient. This could be a doctor communicating with a patient over video call or it could be seeing text messages that may give a medical test result.

Promising New Healthcare Tech

The future of healthcare is changing more and more by the day, as tech is being continually adopted to try and get bigger and better results. Some of the tech that is going to influence the future of healthcare is present right now, but others are being continually explored and if they do become adopted, they could have a monumental impact on the industry as we know it.

AI

Artificial intelligence has a lot of exciting applications when you look at the world of healthcare. One of the most important applications would be in diagnosis. There have been many situations where AI has been able to identify blindness or even skin cancer. Interestingly, sometimes tech like this is able to have a higher accuracy rate than most experts in the field. Other than general diagnosis, it would seem that AI can easily be used to perform many routine tasks. It can be used to manage data while also designing treatments. It can be used to manage medication and it can also be used to monitor health. Robots can also act as medical assistants, taking lab samples and assisting in surgeries.

Nanotechnology

Another incredibly innovative technology would be the use of nanotechnology. You may not have heard of it before, but it concerns objects which have one dimension under one hundred nanometres. So how does this affect diagnostics in general? When you look at it, you will soon see that it has the ability to recognise any damaged cells and it can also identify anything that could be a precursor for disease. The drug can then reach any cells that may be damaged while avoiding cells that may be healthy.

eHealth

eHealth ultimately refers to the use of tech to try and improve the standard of healthcare. eHealth apps tend to be mobile applications and they target a very specific area of healthcare. Everyone has a smartphone in this day and age and eHealth apps really do make looking after your wellbeing and general health much easier and less daunting.

What does the Future Hold?

The future of healthcare happens to include tech that is able to combine data that is based on the medical history of a patient as well as including real-time health coverage. It also intertwines insurance and any financial information as this may be used to support a decision while also improving healthcare while decreasing cost. By doing this, patient health information can then be expanded, and this will work wonders for the industry in general.

Of course, advancements are being made as the days go by and it is very interesting to look at how far we have come as well as looking at the future of tech in general. The technology that people are using right now is not only improving patient care, but also trying to make sure that doctors are able to advise in real-time without even being in the same room as a patient. This is major to say the least and it just goes to show how far things have come.