Innovation is a sign of development. And no matter how much we excel in a field, there is always a room for innovations. If we compare from changes from the last decade of the 20th century to now, there is a huge transformation, in a good way and also bad way but majorly in a good way.
This upheaval has covered all the aspects of our life and made it easier. One of the fields where innovation has been eclectic is healthcare. If we take a look at the advancement that has taken place in the healthcare industry, we would find life has become easier and more reliable. From doctor appointments to hospitals, everything is now moving towards life-altering innovations.
Now, we really do not need to stand in a queue to book an appointment from a doctor or depend on word of mouth to know about the service or record of a doctor. There are multiple start-ups which are enabling us to do everything with a click of a button. Some of the real-time examples include doctor appointment on doc prime and delivery of medicine through 1mg.
Here is a list of healthcare innovations that have taken place and are still on the stage of advancement:
1. Artificial Intelligence: In India, AI is still in its budding stage but has assisted in tremendous ways. Various hospitals such Aakash hospital Dwarka has incorporated AI in various departments. Students do not need to physically travel a long distance to learn or watch doctors perform a surgery to learn the skill. It is all possible with the help of Artificial Intelligence that a medical student living several kilometers away can watch the surgery and learn.
2. Chat bots: This innovation is still on the rise and it is an outcome of the digital revolution. Just the way we are using our smartphones to turn on the music or ask about the latest sports updates; we can also share medical issues with chat-bots.
This chat-bot can help to connect patients with right doctors, share appointment details, or make alterations in the plan if required. The chat-bot is also a part of Artificial intelligence and enables an individual to pay bills, delivers lab, procedure or test results and sometimes even recommend the next step.
3. Blockchain: Blockchain is used in multiple aspects, and some of the fields where it is used extensively include Bitcoin. It used the blockchain technology to transmit information with each other.
What is actually blockchain? It is a technology which enables to store information in a permanent database in an independent and permanent manner. The information saved in a blockchain can be accessed from multiple locations at the same time, and can be shared by a community. Due to its function, it is also sometimes referred to as mutual distributed ledger (MDL).
In the healthcare sector, it allows decentralizing the record system. This can happen only when information is independent of EMR’s controlling the data.
This technology can only be brought into action when a government will approve, as it contains all critical information of an individual.
4. Internet of Medical Things (IoMT): Internet of Medical thing which is also termed as Healthcare IoT are basically interconnected infrastructure of software applications and medical devices. This allows easy communication with various healthcares IT systems. If given a chance, IoMT will bring extensive advancement in the medical field.
Some of the benefits because of the introduction of IoMT are listed below:
Objective reporting: The device has the ability to record the health condition and share the report, which makes us independent of the subjective report of the patient. With the assistance of IoMT, report of diseases progression and efficiency of a therapy being provided can easily be shared with the help of devices.
Remote monitoring: This enables a medical practitioner to rely on a report card despite relying on the accuracy of the summary said by the patient.
Local activity recording: The device comes with the capability to collect the data that were not easily accessible. The collection of data will make analyses of chronic diseases and their mechanism easier. This will aid in understanding the diseases as well the therapy or treatment that should be applied.
Automation: Automation mitigates the probability of human error or false reporting within a hospital.
Precision medicine: It assists in analyzing the medicine required for certain diseases and also helps to evaluate the side effects that it can produce.
Adaptability: The system is based on a feedback loop and iterates the feedback. This provides an improved outcome of patients.
5. Electronic Skin: This innovation is done by the research team of the University of Tokyo. This technology comes with the ability to track the vital changes in the body and displays the signs on a thin plastic material which is put on the skin surface.
Semiconductor technology is used in this device. The display skin used in the device consists of 16 by 24 LEDs which reads the heart rate of a person.
The above-listed healthcare innovations are revolutionary and are contributing in making life and lifestyle of people more secure and stable. The advancement is bringing a major decline in the mortality rate of a human being. These changes have the potential to promote the entire healthcare domain, and alter the way how people approach healthcare today.
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.
