The latest trends in digital healthcare are increasingly altering the face of the global health industry. These trends introduce new approaches to disease prevention, diagnosis, and management.
The life science business continues to spend heavily on digital breakthroughs like blockchain technology and virtual reality. These are improving the efficacy and effectiveness of medical processes.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry has seen the biggest transformation in the entire market. It is undergoing numerous changes and adapting to new conditions.
Key healthcare future trends have emerged surrounding the use of the healthcare tech industry. These trends will continue to shape its future. Let’s get to know which of the latest trends in digital healthcare are at the top.
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Latest Trends in Digital Healthcare: New Health Technologies
According to an HIMSS report, 80% of health systems plan to increase their investment in digital healthcare within 5 years. The intention is clear, but which technologies are worth paying for? Let’s map out the emerging healthcare technologies of 2022:
Telehealth
It is one of the latest trends in digital healthcare.
Patients are looking for on-demand healthcare to fit into their busy schedules.
Telehealth allows patients to communicate with healthcare practitioners from anywhere in the world using their mobile devices.
When the COVID-19 epidemic struck in early 2020, telehealth usage skyrocketed. It’s because consumers and providers looked for distant ways to give healthcare and remedies.
Telehealth is here to stay, thanks to its ease and enhanced access to patients in remote places.
The worldwide telehealth market is expected to reach $559 billion by 2027.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality, or VR, was only a decade ago a futuristic concept for the entertainment business.
It is now at the forefront of healthcare’s digital transformation.
Stress, anxiety, autism, dementia, and chronic pain are psychological and physical diseases that VR can treat and manage.
The ability of virtual reality to move you to another location can help construct simulations of circumstances in which psychological problems arise.
A therapist is no longer required to reproduce scenarios that may trigger significant fear, such as traveling in an airplane.
Virtual reality’s therapeutic qualities aren’t only limited to psychological concerns. It can help with pain management and physical treatment.
IoT Devices
Healthcare providers may now remotely monitor their patients. They can also make informed recommendations because of the rise of IoT-enabled gadgets.
You can monitor the temperature for vaccines remotely. Also, you can do a prescription reminder remotely. You can even track drugs effectively from remote. That’s how IoT medical devices manage a wide range of ailments and activities.
Physicians can track and monitor their patients using IoT-enabled wearables and home monitoring equipment. Moreover, they can use the data acquired to get them on the optimal treatment plan faster than ever before.
This is especially useful when treating people with long-term illnesses like Parkinson’s disease. Doctors can determine the severity of Parkinson’s patients’ symptoms and their fluctuations throughout the day to treat them successfully.
IoT devices promise to make this process considerably easier. It continuously gathers data on Parkinson’s symptoms and allows patients to enjoy their lives in their own homes. It saves them from staying in the hospitals for longer periods.
Wearable Devices
Wearables cause healthcare to become more patient-centered and preventative.
Wearables provide chances for tailored therapy for patients. It saves costs and enhances care access and quality by reducing inefficient healthcare practices through real-time monitoring.
The Fitbit, which debuted as a wireless clip-on device in 2009, was one of the first activity trackers to gain widespread popularity. Wearables have come a long way since then.
Wearables measure almost all human processes, including heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, and even ECGs.
Wearable technology has quickly woven itself into culture in recent years. Smartwatches are already considered mainstream, with no indications of slowing down. Wearables are rapidly evolving, starting with temporary tattoos that may be removed.
Big Data
Big data analytics is undeniably driving substantial changes in a variety of industries, including healthcare.
Companies in the life sciences sector are eager to invest in a better way to organize their data, and big data offers many advantages.
These include the reduction of prescription errors through patient record analysis. It can also detect anomalies between the drugs prescribed and the health status of the patients.
Big data may also generate precise hospital admission estimates and gauge staff rates. It not only saves money but also reduces patient wait times.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has the potential to enable machines to read and grasp data. It does so in the way humans have opened up a world of possibilities for medical research, healthcare experts, and clinical practitioners that were previously unavailable or unrecognized.
Medical imaging, genomics, precision medicine, and drug development all benefit from AI.
The healthcare artificial intelligence-powered tools market is expected to top $34 billion by 2025. All thanks to major internet companies like Google and Amazon investing heavily in the technology.
Google Health is looking into using artificial intelligence to help with cancer diagnosis, patient outcomes prediction, and blindness prevention.
One example is how the platform is facilitating access to information about skin diseases. They are in the process of building a platform that allows users to upload a photo of their skin and analyze it using AI and Google image search.
Amazing, right? You can now track that irritating skin rash or bumps on your skin on your own.
Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology has the potential to improve health data security, privacy, and interoperability.
Healthcare systems around the world grapple with the issue of having an incomplete picture of their patient’s medical history. The blockchain technology solves this problem while simultaneously ensuring the security of documents.
Medical records can be connected to existing electronic medical record software using a blockchain-based system. It allows for a complete view of a patient’s history.
The actual patient data is not stored on the blockchain for security reasons. However, each newly-entered record is coded and can only be accessed by the person who owns the data.
This latest trend in digital healthcare has certainly made a doctor’s life much easier.
Bottom Line!
Over the next few years, the digital health transition will gain traction, and healthcare professionals will increasingly turn to digital technologies to improve patient care while identifying best practices within a regulatory framework.
More people across the world are gaining access to smart technology in their homes. Health-related apps and services, such as telehealth solutions, will become a viable choice for patients who wish to stay at home while receiving quality care.
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