Healthcare Technology You Should Be Using
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America's healthcare system is the third most expensive in the world, spending more than $3 trillion dollars a year! A large portion of this spending goes towards research or development projects. This includes developing tech gadgets for healthcare professionals to use.
These offer America's 21.8 million healthcare professionals help providing high-quality, streamlined care. Streamlining your care means that you have more time to spend with patients so you can focus on things that matter the most in your job. Who wouldn't want that?
There are loads of different types of healthcare tech to choose from. To find the right ones for your line of medicine, it's important to familiarize yourself with what's on the market.
In that case, you're in the right place! Read on to find out about different ways that people are using technology in healthcare.
Benefits of Healthcare Technology
We increasingly use technology in every avenue of our lives. In fact, 90% of American homes feature smart technology as a way of making daily tasks easier.
Healthcare technology does exactly the same in hospitals and clinics across America! The benefits of using this technology can have a huge impact on healthcare practices.
One of the benefits of healthcare gadgets is that they can save healthcare professionals time. They do this by carrying out jobs that professionals would otherwise do themselves.
For example, they can help doctors and nurses pull up a patient's medical history quickly or carry outpatient monitoring. In this way, tech or a physician's assistant can get the job done quickly and effectively.
This means that you as professionals have more time to spend looking after patients. As a consequence, using healthcare tech can increase the quality of patient care and reduce the cost of running hospitals and clinics. More time also means that doctors can focus on developing drugs and treatments for future patients.
Tech can also spend the time that doctors and nurses don't have, looking at patients' data. Because of this, they can help to predict possible epidemics and help prevent these. They may also help avoid preventable fatalities, so they'll improve hospital mortality rates.
More efficient and effective treatment also leads to a reduction in waste. This is great for budgets and helps hospitals be as environmentally friendly as possible.
Finally, thanks to the rise in the number of doctors using this technology, there has also been a boost in the quality of safe storage solutions. This means that using healthcare tech is safer than ever before.
To really understand how these gadgets could benefit your practice, let's take a look at some of the best healthcare tech out there.
Digitalized Patient Records
Digitalizing patient records is one of the most basic ways of using tech in your healthcare profession but it's a valuable one.
One-third of patients who go to see a doctor each year in the US end up being referred to see a specialist. For a referral to work effectively, this specialist needs access to the patient's medical history and any other doctor's notes. Without this, it is difficult to provide accurate diagnoses and effective treatment.
Digitalized patient records mean that sharing and sending this information is quicker than ever. A doctor can look up a patient's history in a matter of moments.
This is also great for anyone working in the ER. It means that you can use a patient's name to quickly check any medical history and allergies. Knowing this information could save your patient's life.
In particular, Robot Process Automation can work to process and streamline medical records. This makes it easier for you to access them quickly and easily.
3D Printing
From simple systems to cutting edge technology, 3D printing was actually invented back in 1983 but made a splash around 2010. Now it has become a game-changer in hospitals around the world.
So far doctors have used 3D printing for:
- Designing organs for transplantation
- Repairing damaged skin or tissue
- Cutting poly-pills
3D printing means that doctors can customize what they print to suit each individual patient. This raises the chances of an implant being accepted by a patient's body and reduces transplant waitlist times. This makes a huge difference to hospital wait times for procedures and vastly improves patients' quality of life.
AI Data Analysis
Healthcare professionals are bombarded with a wealth of information every single day. Processing this information correctly is vital for an accurate diagnosis. So wouldn't it be great if something could help you process all this information?
Well, AI data analysis can do just that.
It works by analyzing your collected data and processing this along with a patient's medical records. This technology is particularly good at spotting patterns in this data. As such it provides invaluable support when diagnosing patients and creating treatment plans.
It can compare symptoms, medical history, and even environmental factors with previous cases. It will then highlight relevant information for your case.
To top it all of, it can do all of this much faster than a human would. In fact, some AI technology can now process information at the speed of light!
You can also use this technology for longer-term projects or to analyze patient trends over time. This means it can play a vital role in predicting potential epidemics and for research projects. Some doctors have already been doing just this.
Back in 2018, researchers used AI on an Ebola project to widen their search for drugs that could combat the disease. As a result, they managed to find two new drugs that would help reduce infection rates.
Patient Monitoring
There are a few different names of healthcare tech that enables patient monitoring. These include virtual healthcare, telehealth or telemedicine but all do similar jobs.
They use technology advancements to improve communication between patients and doctors. This allows doctors to help more patients at a time by working remotely to monitor them.
Patients can use apps to report their symptoms and video calls to do appointments from the comfort of their own homes. This also means that patients with reduced mobility can get the help they need easily.
For more in-depth observations you can also send patients home with wearable gadgets. These can record their blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature. They will even send alerts to you if any worrying readings come back.
This allows you to send patients home safe in the knowledge that you can keep an eye on them. It also means you can open up beds to patients who need to be in the hospital for reasons other than monitoring purposes. Reducing in-person consultations could also save around $7 billion a year and free up 37,000 professionals to see more patients.
Fertility Testing
Between 12 and 13 percent of couples in America experience fertility problems. These can be frustrating and upsetting for anyone experiencing them. Thanks to technology in healthcare you can now help more patients with fertility testing than ever.
Companies like Modern Fertility create cheap and simple fertility test kits that women can use at home or do at local clinics. This saves time any money carrying out extensive tests, which will show the same results, in labs across the country.
Modern Fertility also offers individualized reports on test results for patients. On top of this, it provides educational support for people experiencing fertility issues. This support includes weekly webinars and one-on-one meetings with specialized nurses.
As such, technology in healthcare offers better support for patients going through this tough time.
Triage Management
Organization is key to running a successful healthcare facility and triage plays a huge role in this. Effective triage systems are to key this. They mean that doctors can deal with urgent cases as quickly as possible.
You can save valuable time triaging patients by using technology to keep tabs on everyone you have in. After receiving information from a patient, you can input this into your triage system. This will help you to put them in your existing patient list depending on who needs urgent care the most.
You can also update your triage system with data that you collect from observations while patients wait. This can help to alert you to any changes in a patient's condition and bump them up the queue if necessary. As such, triage management systems mean that no patient gets forgotten and you have a thorough record of their time in hospital.
It also supports communication between doctors when they change shifts. The system will let new doctors know when patients came in and any treatment they've had.
If you're working on a busy ward, like the ER, then this type of equipment really could be a lifesaver.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is cutting edge but you may not immediately be able to spot how it could play a role in your medical practice. There are a couple of ways that it can revolutionize treatment and patient care.
Firstly, virtual reality can make a huge difference in medical training and teaching programs. It allows medical students and doctors alike to experience procedures like never before.
This is great for boosting students' confidence when training. They can test out new procedures before going near a patient.
Experienced doctors can also use it to brush up on their skills or learn newly developed techniques. This is also a great way to share any advancements you may make inpatient treatment.
Virtual reality technology can also play a huge role in improving patient care. It gives healthcare professionals the opportunity to experience their patients' audio-visual symptoms.
Grasping these can have a huge impact on your understanding of just how a condition can impact a patient's life. This will give you a newfound level of empathy and work wonders for your bedside manner.
Transcription Tech
Transcription tech can save you loads of time when recording patient notes.
This can improve communication between you and other doctors when sharing patient information. Particularly advanced technology is able to highlight keywords from conversations with patients. This helps you pick out relevant information quickly.
You can add transcribed conversations with your patients to their medical file. This means that you can review their case and any information they provided without going back to check details. Once again, this is a great way for doctors to get up to speed on cases when a shift changes or if a patient is referred to them.
Transcription tech can also play a vital role as evidence if you or your healthcare facility face patient lawsuits. Having a transcript of your conversation with a patient will be difficult to dispute in court. It also means you don't have to rely on your memory of the day in question.
Online Platforms for Finding Healthcare Jobs
Some healthcare gadgets have their uses in day-to-day medical practice but this isn't the only way tech could play a role in your career. If you're looking to switch roles or relocate then turning to technology could help you widen your job search.
There are now plenty of social media sites where you can search for new job postings within the medical profession. These sites include:
Whether you're looking for a new job or are looking for staff, these sites are invaluable resources. They allow you to set up profiles, searching through CVs and contact potential employees directly. You can find out more about how to use these social media sites here.
The Bottom Line
Using healthcare technology offers a wealth of possibilities for anyone working in the medical profession. It can help to streamline patient care without compromising on quality.
This means that you'll have more time on your hands to focus on delivering the best treatment for your patients possible. What's not to like?
To find out more about using technology in healthcare, take a look at the evolution of healthcare tech in America.