DIAGNOSING THE HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY

Earlier, we could measure only Body temperature, Pulse, Blood Pressure at home but today, we live in an ecosystem which allows us to track almost every human action owing to accessibility to gizmos & Gadgets. Now we are blessed with Smart clothes, insideables , sensors etc., which monitor our daily activities from number of steps we walk, calories burnt, distance covered, sleep quality + smart alarm, blood oxygen levels, blood glucose levels, cardiac fitness, stress, eating habits, ECG, cognitive skills, to brain activities & productivity. There is a drastic shift in the EMR mandates, adoption & personal health apps due to government intervention.

Here are some of the trends shaping the Healthcare Industry:-

1. WEARABLES

Smart Clothes: Fashion industry can be instrumental in increasing the awareness & adoption of smart clothes in the audiences, Companies like Hexoskin and MC10 are working to make smart clothes & sensors which can be embedded in clothes . This enables healthcare providers with crucial, lifesaving data.
Insideables: devices implanted into our body or just under the skin. There are people already having such RFID implants with which they can open up a laptop, a smartphone or even the garage door.
Digestables: (Pills), another great invention which will track digestion.
Stickables: The most exciting of all are the sensor-equipped patches designed to be paired with specific drugs to help measure their efficacy. Most of them rely on an app on the patient’s smartphone to transmit the data from the devices.

2. GAMIFICATION: It has been noticed that patients tend to ignore the compliance of treatment regimes as prescribed by the doctor. Gamifying these regimes by giving patient goals, rewards for attaining them will tremendously improve the healthcare process as it will give the patient’s treatment regime an entertainment streak.

3. 3D PRINTING: Doctors can use 3D printers to create customized casts, prosthetics, braces, and implants like knee replacements, & also print off replicas of a patient’s internal organs (from an MRI scan) to practice on before a surgery.

4. AUGMENTED & VIRTUAL REALITY: According to the WHO (World Health Organization) the current estimated worldwide deficit surpasses 4.3 Million. There is a huge demand of medical practitioners but the supply is less. This pose a great threat but solution to this is Virtual & Augmented Reality with which we can enter into a world of improved, enhanced and digitally created features which will be incredibly useful in Healthcare solving the major issue of demand & supply gap of medical providers. Thus, can bring a paradigm shift in Healthcare.

Scenario A: Where working-out means tedious, mundane health regime.
Scenario B: A combo deal of VR + Video games develops not only interest but also makes exercising a lot more fun.
Virtual Reality is encompassing all possible participants of Healthcare under its purview. Its helpful in educating the medical students in much better way as they can perform ‘hands on’ procedures in a safe manner which enables them to make mistakes & learn.

5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:  Let’s see few ways in which Artificial Intelligence is going to improve the skills of doctors.
Eradicates waiting time– An Artificial Intelligence system will schedule as efficiently as possible by reducing the doctor’s waiting time for a patient, a lab result, etc.
Connect the doctor to crucial patients– An Artificial Intelligence OS could crunch out the most urgent messages from a pool of calls, in-person questions, e-mails and even messages which a doctor receives from social media channels on a daily basis.
Healthcare Industry is witnessing change with everyday innovations & inventions making the society a better place to live in a more healthier life.