Elevating Patient Treatment Through Cutting-Edge Technology

Consumer-driven innovation is transforming many industries, including healthcare. Patients now have visibility into their medical records, test results, and billing history through mobile apps and websites.

Technology is also helping to improve healthcare access and affordability. For example, on-demand delivery services like Zipline are expanding medication availability for disadvantaged populations.

Artificial Intelligence

In healthcare, AI is poised to transform the way we treat our patients and to reduce input errors. From diagnosis to determining the best drug for a patient, it has the potential to improve every aspect of care. AI is also helping to improve the day-to-day lives of healthcare practitioners by reducing administrative tasks and allowing them more time to spend with their patients. It can even speed up research and bring life-saving treatments to market faster.

In the future, we will see a shift from traditional hospital-based care to more home-based treatment options. This may include remote monitoring and alerting systems powered by AI, as well as virtual assistants to help manage medications and health-related tasks. AI can even be used to predict when a patient is at risk of having a flare-up of their chronic disease, making it easier to manage and monitor their condition.

However, the full promise of AI in healthcare will require more than technology alone. It will take a collaborative approach that brings together the right mix of stakeholders. This will include medical professionals, IT experts, and data scientists, all working together to understand the potential impact of AI on their practice and how it can be most successfully implemented in clinical settings. It will also involve healthcare providers and their IT staff working closely with patients to ensure they understand the benefits and risks of AI and that they are comfortable relying on it.

Several healthcare organizations surveyed in the EIT Health report identified AI as one of their top priorities, but many still face obstacles that are hindering progress. For example, they need to ensure that they have robust and transparent processes for data-sharing—a key requirement for enabling AI applications. This is especially important when dealing with the large volume of data required by AI applications.

Another obstacle is a lack of awareness among healthcare practitioners about the potential of AI and its current limitations. This can be overcome by integrating AI-related topics into educational curricula at all levels of training, as well as through continuing education for existing healthcare practitioners. This will give future healthcare professionals a solid foundation on which to build their expertise as they enter the workforce.

3D Printing

Using additive manufacturing to create physical objects from computer-aided design (CAD) blueprints, 3D printing has become an integral technology in healthcare. It’s been used in a variety of medical applications, including surgical planning, prosthetics, and implants. It has also been employed for a number of other purposes, from fashion and jewelry to aerospace and automotive products.

In the context of health care, 3D printing is being used to provide doctors with accurate models of patients’ anatomy for diagnostics, treatment planning, and patient education. It’s also being used for the on-demand production of medical devices, known as point-of-care manufacturing, which enables health care professionals to create individualized implants or tools on-site based on patient imaging data.

Despite the impressive potential of medical 3D printing, it faces several hurdles. For instance, material biocompatibility is a major concern, since the printing process itself can impact the materials’ composition and properties, potentially inducing sensitivity or adverse reactions. In addition, sterilization and postprocessing steps can influence the final product’s durability.

Another challenge is the lack of training opportunities for point-of-care healthcare workers to use the technology effectively. As the technology becomes more user-friendly, however, this is slowly changing. In fact, hospitals are starting to offer their staff 3D printing workshops so they can make the most of the technology.

The development of new medical technologies and their implementation in the field are crucial for transforming the future of healthcare. As such, it is essential for policymakers and stakeholders to develop robust frameworks that ensure a balance between innovation and patient safety. By doing so, they will be able to maximize the transformative power of medical technologies for patients, providers, and industry.

Telehealth

Telehealth is the use of digital information and telecommunications technologies to provide healthcare services from long distances. It covers a broad collection of technologies that support at-a-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and administrative management. Its technologies are used in a variety of settings, including medical offices, remote hospitals, mobile vans, and homes. It can be delivered via videoconferencing, the internet, store and forward imaging, terrestrial and wireless communications, and satellite and radio transmissions.

Patients benefit from telehealth because it can help them manage their health care from home or another location away from the office. It can also enable them to see a specialist without having to travel. This is especially helpful for people who have trouble moving around or have limited mobility, such as those with arthritis. Telehealth can also make it easier to stay healthy by providing advice for self-management and making it easy to schedule appointments.

The use of telehealth to treat chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, can lead to better outcomes. Telehealth can help to monitor the progress of these conditions and make sure that patients are following their treatment plans. This can help to prevent complications, which can also save money.

Other uses of telehealth include providing consultations, video conference mental health sessions and on-demand provider education. It can also be useful in addressing physician shortages and increasing access for populations that typically have low provider availability.

For example, a telehealth program at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia utilized real-time video consultations to address geographic barriers for indigenous Australians. This was shown to decrease patients’ travel burden, reduce waiting times for specialists and enhance reassurance and communication.

In addition, telehealth can be used to address shortages of primary care physicians and specialists. This can be done by connecting patients at underserved rural facilities with doctors based at larger regional centers. This can increase patient access to specialty care and improve the health of underserved communities. It can also help to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate interventions and follow-up care.

Extended Reality

The immersive technology of extended reality (XR) blurs the line between the real and virtual worlds, and it is transforming many industries. This includes medical care, where XR has the potential to transform training, diagnostics, and interventions.

XR uses virtual, augmented, and mixed realities to immerse people in new experiences. Virtual reality is a simulation of a real-world environment, while augmented reality integrates virtual elements into existing environments. Examples of augmented reality are 3D models on smartglasses and the IKEA Place app, which allows customers to view furniture in their homes before they buy it.

Augmented and virtual reality are the newest forms of XR, and they are being adopted by healthcare professionals. For example, a surgeon can practice performing surgery on a digital model of an organ before he or she actually performs the operation. This helps reduce complications and improves patient outcomes.

Doctors also use XR to observe internal organs in three dimensions. This allows them to make more accurate incisions and has even led to successful separation of conjoined twins. In addition, XR can help doctors train for complex procedures and provide education to patients.

While XR is becoming more commonplace, there are still some challenges to its adoption. For example, it can cause motion sickness in some users. Moreover, the cost of XR devices is prohibitive for some companies. However, the development of 6G mobile networks with their massive data rate and ultra-low latency will help lower the cost of XR technologies and increase their availability.

In addition to reducing costs, XR can also increase productivity and collaboration. It can allow teams to work together, no matter their location, and it provides a better understanding of project data. It can also improve the design process by allowing designers to visualize their work in 3D and provide more collaborative feedback.

Medical XR is one of the most exciting emerging technologies, and it can have a profound impact on human health. However, it is important to evaluate the risks associated with these technologies. While they have the potential to improve medical care, they can also pose significant privacy and security risks.