Over the last few decades, we have seen some incredible advances in healthcare that improve quality of life and increase survival rates for patients. These advancements are typically framed as technology helping to make our health systems more efficient, effective, and close with nature.
However, what many don’t realize is that much of this advanced technology was designed for use outside of hospitals and clinics, where it originally flourished. Some examples include telemedicine tools, mobile apps, wearable devices, and diagnostic robots.
By incorporating these technologies into the hospital setting, we can not only apply them to care for current patients, but also train future doctors and nurses on how to utilize them. This will help ensure every patient has access to the best possible medical treatments or services they need.
Furthermore, by teaching students about digital wellness solutions and implementing them within their workplace, educational settings, and communities, we can spread awareness about early detection strategies and cost-saving measures.
Better diagnosis
Diagnosis is one of the most important functions of medicine, as it determines what treatments will work for you or not. Technically speaking, a good doctor does not rely solely on his or her clinical acumen to make this determination. Rather, they have tools that help them in their diagnoses!
A lot of these tools were first used in high-tech settings like hospitals, where technology was applied to healthcare. Since then, these technologies have been adapted for use in the community at large, with no technological component.
These nonhospital diagnostic tools can be done remotely, which has allowed patients who are unable to visit a physician’s office to still receive quality care. Some examples include having your blood tested at a nearby hospital or having your urine analyzed via mail.
Overall, advanced technology has helped improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosing diseases, and thus improved patient outcomes.
New treatments
Recent developments in healthcare are making a difference by offering more effective therapies to patients. These new treatments have you pondering whether or not to use them for your loved one!
In fact, there’s no reason to hesitate when it comes to asking about potential benefits of certain treatments. More and more studies confirm that some interventions work effectively to improve symptoms and/or cure disease.
And while cost may be an issue, too often insurance companies cover these treatments as part of their benefit package.
New technologies come with risks just like any other treatment, but because they’re usually safer than what we have now, most people don’t hear much talk about safety concerns.
Online health records
Recent developments in healthcare have been focused on how technology can help you find and understand your medical records. Almost every major hospital, doctor’s office, and pharmacy has online access to at least some of your past medical information. This is increasingly common because it makes finding old notes easy!
Online medical records are also very accurate as most sites use quality verification tools to make sure that what they know about you comes from you and not someone else with your name.
This is especially important for things like prescription drugs, where people sometimes share their prescriptions or addons with new doctors. It is nearly impossible to verify that info without talking to the person who made the original note.
By having this direct connection to your past care, professionals will be able to check out all of the details much faster and more efficiently. For example, after reading your previous test results, they may only need to talk to you once before writing an appropriate prescription or doing something else.
Electronic health records
Many of these improvements can be attributed to electronic healthcare (EHR) systems that allow for easy access, sharing, and analysis of patient information and tests. EHR software was initially designed to make it easier to gather, organize, and share medical records, but recent developments have made it much more powerful than before.
By offering tools such as document review, test result tracking, and disease surveillance, EHRs help your doctor find patterns in patients’ diagnoses and treatments that may indicate risk factors or potential symptoms of diseases. This has allowed doctors to identify emerging threats earlier and take action!
Furthermore, many hospitals and physicians’ practices now use computerized algorithms to analyze lab results and other data to detect changes or abnormalities in a person’s condition that might require attention. For example, an algorithm could look at blood work and determine if there is a need to refer you to a specialist or order additional testing.
These advanced features save time for doctors by helping them focus on treating individual patients while also proactively finding opportunities to improve overall wellness.
Health apps
Recent developments in health technology include the emergence of mobile applications (or “apps”) for patients to use while they are waiting for appointments, during visits with their doctors, or at home after leaving the doctor’s office.
These apps can help track symptoms, communicate with other professionals, give instructions, monitor vital signs, perform basic calculations, and even order prescriptions online or pick them up from the pharmacy.
Some even connect users to each other via chat rooms or social media platforms to share experiences, tips, and tools for improving one’s overall wellness.
Such apps have become increasingly common due to the rising amount of data that is gathered about individual patients’ medical conditions and treatments.
By having access to this information, healthcare providers can work together to find more effective ways of helping individuals manage their diseases, optimize their responses to drugs, determine appropriate next steps, and reduce unnecessary testing and hospital admissions.
Furthermore, since most people own a smartphone now, there are no longer practical limitations on using apps for self-care. You don’t need special expertise to use many of these apps, either — some even have simple interfaces designed for non-technical users to understand.
Overall, digital health has helped improve the quality and availability of care by allowing for better communication, coordination, and patient education.
Health surveys
One of the most important functions that technology has played in healthcare is health surveys. These are questions asked about your symptoms or conditions to determine if you need treatment or not.
Prior to the widespread use of computers, people would have to manually write down their answers to these questions in a questionnaire or form. With the help of computer software, this process can be done automatically and efficiently.
Software can also track how respondents answer certain questions so that results are as accurate as possible. All of this helps ensure proper diagnosis and treatment of diseases for patients.
Surveys have become very common place in medical practices. Not only do they help diagnose disease, but they also aid in monitoring and tracking treatments.
Personal health records
Recent developments in healthcare have been focused on improving how well doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals treat patients. These treatments can be expensive, so ensuring that people are aware of their conditions and what medications they are taking is very important to ensure they get the best care possible.
Personal health records (or PHRs) allow for this by creating an online repository where all of one’s medical information can be stored, organized, and accessed easily from anywhere with internet access. This way, you don’t need to take your phone or computer into the office to look up something-you can do it right away wherever you have wifi!
There are several companies that offer such services, but most feature a free basic account that allows you to store up to 5 items. More advanced accounts come with additional features like patient survey tools and medication lookup apps.
These services make it easy to find all of your prescription drugs, test results, doctor notes, and procedures. For example, you may be able to search Google to see if there has ever been any talk of performing stress tests on your heart, or looking up whether you should expect any side effects when starting a new drug.
Health Tech
Over the past few years, we have seen an explosion in health technology. There are now more ways to track your fitness goals, get quick results for your symptoms, and find new treatments and cures for disease.
In fact, there are over 70 million active users of healthcare apps worldwide! This number is growing rapidly as people use them to connect with each other and share information about their conditions and self-diagnose.
Apps like Google Fit, MyFitnessPal, and LoseIt! can help you keep tabs on how much exercise you’re doing, what foods you’re eating, and if you’re experiencing symptoms or changes related to disease.
By tracking these things, you will be able to identify any patterns and give early signs of illness so that you can seek appropriate treatment. Furthermore, some can even detect biomarkers (changes in body chemistry) that indicate disease risk or diagnosis!
Biometric sensors such as weight scales, blood pressure cuffs, and glucose monitors allow for continuous data collection without needing to reenter answers into another app later.
