Access to healthcare is one of the primary requirements of surviving in the modern world. Can you imagine modern healthcare without technology? You’re right, as the healthcare app development companies significantly believe that technology and healthcare are interlinked in 2021 more than ever.
Technology and humans hand-in-hand for a better healthcare
Doctors and other medical professionals need technology to help patients in their diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. It is impossible to eliminate the human touch to maintain empathy and connection in the treatment. At the same time, many regular and highly-efficiency of tasks like certain surgeries can be given to the robots that are controlled by skilled medical professionals. This affordable partnership between technology and humans needs to be developed when the global medical infrastructure is facing pressure from the global pandemic.
Top healthcare technology trends:
So here are the top ten healthcare technologies that help the common person improve their well-being:
1. Computer vision/ image recognition
Patient monitors and imaging devices like X-ray machines are the primary devices that form the Internet of Medical Things (IOMT) market that is already in use in six out of ten healthcare service providers. This image recognition technology is powered by technological advances that help medical professionals get an insight into the patient’s body without any surgeries. Thus, the doctor can diagnose or predict deadly illnesses like cancer.
Thus, computer vision is contributing immensely to treating and improving the lifestyle of different patients. The guided surgeries, X-rays, ultrasound, and MRI are some of the best technologies used in creating the imaging of the body’s internal organs. It is hard to imagine today’s treatment and diagnosis without considering these image recognition technologies.
2. Virtual and augmented reality
Virtual reality and augmented reality technology are set to reach an 11.14 billion USD market by the end of 2025. So, what is this all about in healthcare? Imagine that a patient is suffering from chronic diseases like heart ailments. The patient can monitor his/her vital statistics like heart rate, blood pressure, pulse rate, etc., using an augmented screen at their place only. It thus reduces the requirements of stepping out of the house to get the best medical advice the healthcare professionals can further connect using virtual reality technology.
It is helpful to medical professionals as they can not only save the time of patients but can manage the rush at their facility. The same is found highly useful in the challenging times of the covid-19 pandemic when the persons suffering from chronic diseases have to take extra caution due to the different complications. The other benefits include a 3-D tour of the patient’s internal organs to understand the intensity of the disease and plan the treatment accordingly.
3. 5G Technology
The Internet is the basic requirement of all smart devices. The smart devices used in healthcare technology further require a dedicated internet connection without any failure issues of lag times. The use of 5G technology in healthcare facilities makes it easy for healthcare professionals to manage, analyze, and monitor patient records.
The infrastructure requirements are less in a 5G network with optimized results and great speeds than a 4G connection. This 5G networking has immense benefits in improving the quality of telemedicine app and offering the best benefits to globally located patients.
4. Blockchain system
Blockchain technology is the newly introduced concept that is helpful in securing healthcare data. The risk of security breaches makes it necessary for the healthcare industry to switch to modern technologies like blockchain. It eliminates the middlemen and creates a decentralized list of records that can be easily linked using cryptography. Thus, different blocks can manage different data and can be taken care of by different peer groups.
The healthcare data can be secured by passwords and can be protected from direct access using blockchain systems. Thus, it ensures privacy and clean audit trails in healthcare data.
5. Voice search
Voice search is enabling multiple patients to book appointments and do follow-ups with their respective healthcare professionals. The voice search linked to the rich knowledge base helps patients get quick answers to their queries without the involvement of the medical professionals. It takes care of elderly patients that may not feel comfortable with the high-tech apps on smart devices. The voice search is thus incorporated by many healthcare service providers for helping a large chunk of elderly patients.
6. Artificial intelligence/ Machine learning
The artificial intelligence market has a projected growth of 190.6 billion USD by 2025, with a significant contribution to the healthcare sector. Now, the usefulness of machines learning the data and responding accordingly can save the lives of critical patients who’re located remotely or don’t have access to medical care rapidly. Modern patients are focusing on the latest apps and technology that help them know their health vitals and are based on artificial intelligence.
Be it cognitive-behavioral therapy or laparoscopic surgery, the healthcare software industry is leading the way in treating patients. It reduces patient wait time and reduces stress on the medical professionals. The human touch is still maintained by the skilled and qualified doctors managing these robots. Artificial intelligence is a part of modern lives, and the same extends to the healthcare sector. Whether it is a guided camera in the body or any other imaging technology, machine learning has a promising future in treating many ill-fated diseases.
7. Wearable technologies
Wearable technology has a promising future in healthcare as more than 32% of the customers wearing different health and related clinical bands or other technologies find it useful. Be it a fitness band or a health tracker; it is easy and simple to interpret its readings with your existing smartphone. Any person trying to keep a perfect record of their body vitals and other parameters like heart rate, blood pressure, etc., can go for these wearable technologies that are highly affordable nowadays.
The fitness bands from different mobile app development companies in the USA like Fitbit, etc., have made it mandatory for the customers to go through their applications to keep them healthy. This wearable technology and the best wearable therapeutics is helpful to alter the sudden occurrence of diseases like heart strokes, diabetes attacks, etc., and hence can save lives in many cases. Many modern adults are using these high-end devices for monitoring the health status of their aging parents.
8. Electronic health records (EHR)
Modern healthcare facilities can’t rely on manual data storage to save the patient’s history and diagnosis. The security of the patient’s data makes it necessary for the medical service providers to save data electronically that is beyond the reach of the general data storage devices and techniques. Thus, electronic medical records or electronic health records have been created that pen down every necessary detail of the patients.
EHR further eliminates the chances of a data breach in the healthcare industry and proves superior to paper records. Many custom web development companies allow medical professionals to instantly access the records without any hassles and can update them according to the requirements.
9. Telemedicine
Believe it or not, more than 70% of healthcare services providers offer one or the other form of telemedicine tools to different patients, and this number has grown over the years. Patients are leveraging the potential of telemedicine that eliminates the requirements of visiting the hospitals physically. It further reduces the stress on the healthcare facility.
The accurate and patient-eccentric telemedicine services are recently adopted by many governments and private healthcare institutes during the covid-19 lockdown. Many healthcare organizations are planning to continue to do the same. It is supported by the reduced visiting hours of the OPD that are kept for the patients requiring immediate physical checkups.
10. Chatbots
Chatbots in healthcare technology is widely used, and their industry is projected to reach 498.1 million USD by 2029. This natural voice processing has multiple uses in the healthcare industry. The widely used chatbots include patient-only apps that make it easy for patients to access and monitor their health data. These details can be timely accessed and taken care of by medical professionals.
The humanized version of the chatbots brings the factor of empathy and expression in the healthcare industry. Whether it is about serious medical issues or about generalized medical consulting, a virtual assistant with the power to show compassion can motivate the patient and help him/her overcome the health issues positively.
Wrapping up:
Nobody can miss the power of technology in healthcare when the healthcare software industry is working hard to deliver dedicated technologies affordable to the common person. The much favorable healthcare technology market is expected to reach 280 billion USD by the end of the year 2021. The constantly evolving technology has given wings to the healthcare industry using artificial intelligence, computer vision, and different wearable technologies. The best part is that all the use of 5G technology and EHR data may seem complicated, but telemedicine has made the lives of patients easy, especially in the challenging times of the covid-19 pandemic. Thus, it takes no time to conclude that the upcoming technology in healthcare is a game-changer for affordable services to patients globally.
Interesting Related Article: “The Business of Health: An Overview Guide to Employee Health Coverage“