Leveraging technology to augment humanity in healthcare
The Healthcare sector is an ever-growing industry and with technology at its aid, it is now emerging as one of the finest industries for human welfare. However “Lack of compassion” is at the top in the long list of challenges plaguing the technological healthcare industry. This is because modern technology and science whip up images of massive mechanization, robotic automation, all indicative of a troubling trend away from human touch and emotions. According to a report carried out by Johns Hopkins, all it takes is “40 seconds” of undivided attention from clinicians to interact with patients and thereby improve their health outcomes. However, the important question is “Whether technology can create these 40 seconds and enable human-like clinical management?” Is it possible to augment humanity in healthcare?”
The answer to these questions lies in understanding “what” technology to be used and “how” it can provide a holistic connection. There are four layers of the process through which technological healthcare can be compassionate and augment humanity in healthcare.
The first layer: Connect them all
There is simply a huge volume of data to be handled by a clinician with a multitude of monitoring devices and instruments, which involves reviewing data from individual devices, assimilating their essence, and analyzing their outcomes/correlations. The power of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) can be leveraged by smart sensors that collect data from individual devices, use edge computing technology to assimilate, and deliver a detailed overview of the clinician.
The second layer: An experience continuum
Treatment is primarily about happenings between cases. In one episode of care, technology can be further leveraged to collect information across several episodes of care, after ensuring effective data management. In other words, providing the clinician with the appropriate medical history with a single patient record powered by artificial intelligence to identify risk trends effectively.
The third layer: Intelligence at its core
The journey from care to cure is about early intervention and finding the correct paths to treatment. Diagnostic findings have also been the building blocks that spearhead the decisions and treatment plans based on facts. AI has the ability to search intricacies down to pixel level to recognize details which can escape human eyes. Algorithmic monitoring of a patient’s recovery during the course of treatment can be utilized to predict the value of care. With AI’s support, amplified algorithms allow clinicians to assess and ensure successful clinical outcomes.
The fourth layer: All under one umbrella
Holistic treatment is the health-care hallmark. The transition from “reactive” to “comprehensive” treatment can be supported by a modern, integrated clinical decision support system, omnipresent on cloud technology, with past, current data coupled with knowledge. This offers unintentionally ample space for clinical functions to engage patients through near human proximity and touch.