How Digitalization Can Improve Healthcare in the Near Future

Updated on March 1, 2020

While the number of people on the planet grows, the number of diseases does the same. The entry of digital into medicine contributes to the progress and improvement of the old methods of treatment, many of which are no longer effective. Medical products using artificial intelligence are actively developing by well-known companies: Google, Microsoft, IBM, Apple. A large number of startups brings incredible solutions so far.

What is digitalization in healthcare? Let’s consider real examples of the use of digitalization in medicine.

Accurate patient data

In order for the treatment to be correct and the diagnosis to be accurate, it is necessary to examine the patient’s data: snapshots, analyzes, examination protocols; history containing full information. The experience of doctors cannot help when it is difficult to see the complete picture of the disease due to poor data systematization in the card, and the disease story is lost in the thickness of the sheets.

It is believed that AI can solve this problem. Digitalization healthcare industry needed it and Google has developed Deepmind Health program, which analyzes the available information about the patient’s symptoms and gives a list of recommendations, and the doctor, using the prompts of such an assistant, assigns the patient a course of treatment.

The IBM Watson Health program also allows you to make diagnoses. Using the IBM Watson Health Cloud healthcare technology, the doctor receives and analyzes data about the patient’s body from an electronic bracelet, and on the basis of this selects an effective course of treatment.

Diagnostics

Now we have the opportunity to make an appointment with a doctor using the Internet. However, there are many patients, so waiting for the reception takes all days and even weeks. AI technology can solve this issue. For example, using telemedicine and the mHealth program. Now artificial intelligence is taught to recognize the symptoms of the onset of malignant tumors, diagnose visual impairment, tuberculosis, and impaired brain function.

There are similar services that can indicate a disease and even diabetes.

Some applications analyze a person’s health status in real time, and then send this data to their doctor. Genetic analysis is the health care industry trend, which is gaining popularity. For instance, the Sophia Genetics service can reveal a person’s susceptibility to certain diseases based on DNA analysis: diabetes, stomach ulcers, and others.

Help with Processing of Huge Amounts of Information

AI can process several thousand pages per second searching for the necessary information. About every twenty minutes in the world there is a new article on medicine. To help physicians, a decision support system was recently created – an AI-based CDSS, which combined information and data on patient health indicators and their medical history.

Automation and improvement

In the US, it is estimated that the country’s health care system loses about $ 150 billion annually, because of patients’ cancellations of a visit to a doctor. The new approach to the organization and management is needed and new technologies trends can cope with this.

Only AI can cope with this task, which can take into account all the nuances and correctly adjust the flow of patients to medical institutions. AI can help a specialist in the analysis of ultrasound, various images, and analyzes. According to experts, this data is about 90% of the total medical data. IBM developed the Arterys service which combines visualization of the work of the heart and analytics. The basis of the service is a neural network capable of analyzing images.

4 Future of Healthcare Technology Trends Can be Already Predicted

1. A smartphone that will detect diseases: hepatitis and cancer

This invention allows even the smallest particles in the air to be caught, even in the amount of several molecules. When an infection gets into the human body, antibodies are formed in the way to go out with the exhaled air. A progressive biosensor with an integrated microchip is able to recognize the corresponding antibodies. You can embed a device, for example, in your smartphone and see the results in a special application. It can be assumed that in the future there will be reliable biomarkers of different types of cancer, and sensory technology will be able to detect the disease at early stages.

2. Nanomedicine

Experts in the field of nanomedicine consider aging as a pathological process, which is activated when the human body cannot cope with recovery after injuries. Therefore, nanomedicine is designed to overcome this disease. Soon, by 2020, it will be possible to create hybrid hybrids based on improved DNA, synthetic proteins and other non-biological materials. And by 2030, the newest technology trends will be completed with nanobots. The programmed bots will protect the human body at the cellular level from diseases and injuries. Such inventions will cope with any kinds of viruses,diseases, and epidemics.

3. Blood test

A student from Stanford University improved an ordinary blood test. Now it is completely painless (patients claim that an injection looks more like a touch), and in a few hours, you can determine up to 70 indicators. Thus, it is possible to monitor health conditions, recognize a disease at an early stage and monitor the success of treatment.

4. Improved genetics

While eternal life is still far away, there are already some interesting developments in this field. Scientists claim that human genes work on the principle of small programs. Thus, the body can be rejuvenated by reprogramming the DNA code. Similarly, you can overcome any disease by simply reprogramming its code, as programmers do. It is possible that in the near future, doctors will be able to perform a backup of human memory, diagnostic operations, treatment and rejuvenation using nanobots.

Bottom Line

What is the aim of all the digitalization in healthcare? The answer is unequivocal: to live without diseases.

Now the medicine is developing very actively, comparing with other branches of science. Healthcare industry is the driving force of humanity: any other achievements of people depend on new discoveries in this field. The latest digitalization trends are constantly improving medicine. Scientists insist that in most cases it is possible to cure cancer by detecting it in the initial stages. Progressive diagnostic methods become more sensitive, accurate, faster and more accessible every day.

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The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.