How technology trends are currently transforming healthcare

Healthcare is among the most crucial industries, and its development helps prevent and cure many diseases. This is mainly due to the technological advances in the healthcare sector, which have enabled a profound understanding of humanity.

Technology plays a vital role by offering more insights into the human body’s inner workings. That said, this progress cannot occur without looking at other possible hindrances to a healthier future. The main obstacles include growing inequities, healthcare costs and climate change.

Nonetheless, over the past decade, different technologies have driven the healthcare sector through numerous innovations in how diseases are found, prevented and cured. This would not be possible without AI-focused tech, the digitization of healthcare roadmaps to tackle serious global conditions, and the ever-rising demand for accessible and quality healthcare service.

It is critical to be mindful of the trends impacting healthcare technology in the coming years. We must consider how legacy software and infrastructure can integrate with newer technologies and how newer, more efficient systems might eventually replace them. 

The primary focus must be on improving productivity, performance, security and efficiency without compromising accessibility or reliability. 

Recent years have observed speedy technological innovations, and some recurring themes have also emerged, determining the direction that healthcare professionals will take to address the impact of rising tech trends.

What are healthcare tech trends?

As mentioned, healthcare is among the most dynamic yet essential industries. The rising demand for improvement, innovation, accessibility, quality and affordability makes it one of those industries chock-full of novel innovations and opportunities.

There has been a transformation in the use of technology to promote primary care and prevention, such as wearable gadgets that keep track of patients’ vitals remotely. 

The healthcare sector business has experienced digital transformations in recent years to better deal with the present situation. This has, in turn, significantly broadened the scope of tech-focused healthcare solutions.

Various existing and developing technologies are expected to positively impact healthcare in the future. As stated, AI, machine learning, augmented reality, 5G, the Internet of Medical Things, virtual reality, and wearables will become essential tools for healthcare professionals and organizations to help those in need efficiently.

You can acquaint yourself with technological breakthroughs in the health sector by enrolling in one of the online phd programs in nursing at Wilkes University. This will enable you to develop the skills and knowledge in nursing science and emerging technology that will help you stay ahead of the competition and advance the profession as a whole. 

The top technology trends in healthcare

Below are the top technology trends expected to impact the healthcare sector going forward.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

AI, since its advent, has evolved from research and development facilities and tech incubators to something promising with significant potential. Numerous healthcare organizations are gradually incorporating AI in multiple ways, such as:

• Extracting substantial amounts of data utilized in population analysis.
• Enhancing medical diagnostics via medical imaging or radiological studies.
• Detecting patterns of possible infections for efficient diagnosis.
• Examining the quality of doctors or hospital networks in providing optimal care to patients.

AI paired with machine learning has the potential to produce a great impact across healthcare organizations. Machine learning, also a type of AI, significantly impacts healthcare industry by streamlining healthcare data collection and security as mentioned in a blog post on Nogentech blog.

Healthcare professionals commonly use AI through robotic automation and human language technology. AI can help fish out specific data and program administrative tasks to allow healthcare employees to focus their energy and time elsewhere.

At this point, radiologists also specialize in AI and machine learning, particularly in AI imaging, diagnostics and image-sharing networks. A specific challenge here, however, is expanding medical imaging data, adding pressure on existing tools to obtain, move and share medical imaging with physicians and other diagnostic medical organizations.

While machine learning aids radiologists in image captioning, segmentation and classification tasks, a robust data management platform that can scale to securely and efficiently transfer image data to individuals, applications, and other healthcare companies is crucial.

AI and machine learning offer physicians, diagnosticians and researchers more precision to ensure and maintain accuracy in medical care. 

In 2021, AI in healthcare was worth around $11bn worldwide. It was estimated that the international AI market would be worth approximately $188bn by 2030.

Other healthcare facilities use AI for clinical decision support (CDS), readmittances and complaints handling. That said, the prospects are much bigger than this, from image recognition and pathology to even cancer diagnosis.

Wearables

According to the CDC Healthy People report, only 23% of adults meet the recommended guidelines regarding exercise, but wearables may aid in increasing that number.

At this point, wearables are found everywhere, and wellness and fitness trackers and apps are growing rapidly. From Apple Watch to Fitbit, millions of people use smart devices to monitor heart rates, track their steps, and perform various physical activities.

While wearable gadgets are found everywhere from a user’s perspective, doctors and physicians also use data generated by wearables for better insight into their patients’ health, and replace less effective or safe methods of sharing medical data, including emailing providers and printing data.

Wearables have become widespread in healthcare. It is not rare these days for a physician to recommend a wearable to a patient to track their health over time. Some of the primary reasons may be to track:

• Blood pressure
• Heart rate
• Sleep quality
• Activity levels

With the present capabilities of wearables, a doctor can use the gadget to prescribe medicine better and make more accurate diagnoses. This benefits both parties.

While the present version of fitness gadgets is undoubtedly helpful, the next generation may be even more advantageous to a person’s health and overall wellbeing. The next generation of wearables will safely send data to a patient’s healthcare provider and financier for improved functionality, accuracy, and data analysis on the patient’s health. 

A healthcare professional may monitor everything from blood pressure to glucose levels to pinpoint abnormalities quicker for more efficient treatments that could help drive better patient outcomes. 

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)

VR and AR have played a significant role in helping to drive healthcare technologies forward. VR and AR have a lot of potential to offer in the healthcare sector.

In 2020, the global VR and AR in the healthcare sector was worth $2.076bn, and it is expected to grow to approximately $42.84bn in 2028 at a 39.98% CAGR. This unique technology benefits healthcare training, surgery simulation, and patient treatment and care.

VR is used in healthcare for cancer, autism, depression and vision therapy. The development of AR mainly depends on AI. As mentioned, cancer can be identified via image recognition. 

The digital and real worlds are interwoven in mixed reality, which offers advanced educational facilities to physicians to assist patients by learning about their condition.

As technology advances and combines VR and AR, its use may expand beyond regular virtual checkups to various medical treatments conducted remotely (i.e., fully developed surgical operations via robotics). VR can be utilized in physical therapy in fields such as emotional trauma, where it can help cure phobias. For example, physicians using AR cover CAT scans and 3D scan data to check patients’ bodies. Another example is health service robots tending to the elderly in Japan.  

Digital health and mobility applications

Digital health applications are becoming increasingly prominent, specifically among doctors and in clinical settings. In this day and age, physicians carry tablets wherever they go, using them to access patients’ medical records with increased convenience. Medical digital apps are being developed to enhance patient outcomes, particularly in remote health situations. Doctors use modern technology to improve relationships with their patients and offer all the data they need in an easy-to-understand way.

Moreover, modern digital health apps give patients more access to their medical data than ever before. Patients can easily access their private health data through applications and online portals. Recording medical history in manila folders is no longer relevant at this point. What was once only accessible to healthcare professionals is now only a couple of clicks and a sign-in away. Digital healthcare apps have considerable potential and can improve patient care (i.e., from scheduling appointments to monitoring those suffering from chronic conditions).

As stated, the use of tablets has grown in healthcare facilities, and with the rise in mobility is the growing use of mobile apps. From diabetes to diagnostics, many novel apps give patients more power. For example, some apps can help patients track their medications, offer personalized reminders of when to take them, and automate refills at their local pharmacy. Other apps can collect blood pressure data from a mere fingerprint, allowing users to share their results with their doctors.

The convenience that digital health and mobile apps offer patients and doctors will evolve in the short and long term to empower patients and improve their healthcare outcomes.

Human genomic data

Genetic sequencing to closely identify and treat chronic and rare diseases used to be expensive and required a certain level of technology to which most healthcare organizations did not have access. However, healthcare facilities now benefit from the technological advancements and lower cost barriers leading to various innovations and medical advancements related to genetic sequencing.

Below are some scientific opportunities linked with genomic sequencing and, hypothetically, the ability for healthcare organizations to incorporate genomic datasets into analytics programs and share data with other research organizations or pharmaceutical facilities:

• A better understanding of the genetic basis of disease in humans.
• Improved knowledge of evolutionary science, the aging process, and comparative genomics.
• The implementation of genetic variations into medical manufacturing sectors to develop new specialized medications.

In this case, prenatal testing is among the most stimulating real-world applications. In fact, this sector is the most prominent use case for genomic medicine, offering a new depth into what a baby’s genetics will be. Doctors can use genomics data science to diagnose and effectively treat genetic illnesses or malignant mutations before the baby is even born.

Furthermore, oncologists are exploring genetic sequencing to produce more specialized treatments for particular cancers. There is hope, therefore, that medicine particular to a patient’s cancer may better attack malignant tumors at the molecular level, leading to safer and more reliable treatment options.

Regarding improving patient outcomes, allergies are also a concern. The best medicines often cannot be prescribed due to an allergy – or worse, the patient learns about the allergy after medication. Instead of treating a patient’s allergy reactively, healthcare professionals can use the patient’s genomic data set to determine whether their body will react to a specific drug before it is even administered.

Pharmaceutical supply chain

The pharmaceutical sector, which requires the latest technology to remain ahead of the curve, is also adopting new digital technologies. In recent years, challenges such as the rise of counterfeit drugs and increasing alternative brand medications have been forcing a downward price trend.

Therefore, pharmaceutical companies must take a long-term stance and learn the true potential of supply chain optimization to mitigate competitive forces and support new offerings in developing markets.

Because of the various challenges, pharmaceutical organizations increasingly rely on their supply chain and prioritize flexibility across their trading partner ecosystem. To leverage a growing supply chain, pharma companies must adopt new technologies supporting integration.

Connecting business operations across enterprise lines and securely sharing proprietary information with other supply chain members through a business network is crucial. Modern B2B integration platforms allow organizations to collaborate more freely, using legacy on-site data stores and application infrastructure, while leveraging big data analytics and real-time visibility across the supply network.

Distribution centers and healthcare professionals must also contribute data to increase the transparency and integrity of supply and demand. With improved B2B data integration, pharmaceutical organizations gain better insight into the market for their products, manage their distribution more efficiently via complete long-term visibility, and control the quality of the product at the contract manufacturing organization (CMO) level.