Without a doubt, technology is becoming an integral part of people’s lives today. Businesses and individuals across the globe benefit from the advantages brought about by technology. Among the many, the medical sector is one of the most positively affected.
When you come to think of it, it’s really easy to see how patient care has improved over the years because of technology. Patients’ survival rates have increased, and there are more treatments available. In addition, diseases that were once deadly can now be treated, and overall management of patients’ symptoms has improved as well.
Various areas of patient care have been measurably improved. Find out here about some of the innovations that brought about those positive changes in patient care.
- Telemedicine
Telemedicine is very prevalent nowadays. To avoid overcrowding in hospitals, patients who don’t necessarily need the physical check of a doctor can have their consultation virtually. That way, only those patients who absolutely need to be present in the hospital will be there physically.
While telemedicine benefits hospitals and doctors to a great extent, this isn’t to say that patients don’t feel its positive effects either. Telemedicine enables video or phone appointments between doctors and patients, benefiting the patient in terms of convenience and overall health.
For example, without telemedicine, patients will have to travel regularly to and from the hospital, even if it’s only to have lab records read. Depending on where the patient is from, some have to travel a long way just to make those doctors’ appointments.
For those who are physically impaired or immunocompromised, those trips to the hospital may be harmful to their health. With telemedicine, patients can consult with their doctor virtually. It’s only when a physical checkup is called for that they’ll have to travel to the hospital physically.
Moreover, telemedicine increases access to medical services. Even those who live in hard-to-reach areas and may find it expensive and difficult to travel to big cities can now have access to medical specialists. This gives more patients the chance to be more proactive about their health as well. For your telemedicine needs, you may visit a site like https://blclinics.com/ to get the info you need.
- Electronic Health Record
In many advanced hospitals, electronic health records just like a Medical Spa EMR are widely used. This is in lieu of the usual dependence on printed documents or images of patients’ results and other lab records. With an electronic health record system, patients can easily view lab results and make appointments or records with their doctor.
Going even deeper into its advantages, electronic health records are able to improve patient care in the following ways:
- It reduces the cost patients have to pay for, with less printing of physical documents and paperwork.
- It optimizes the ability to provide up-to-date and accurate data to patients.
- It enables medical providers to assess patients’ needs and care plans with greater efficiency.
- It allows patients to gain faster access to their records.
- It ensures the security and privacy of patient data.
- Automated IV Pumps
Automated intravenous (IV) pumps or IV infusion pumps improve patient care for those who need IV insertions in the hospital. This particularly applies to pediatric patients or those who are in the Intensive Care Unit, where the risk of moving and transferring the IV spot regularly shouldn’t be in the picture.
An automated IV pump controls the drips and dosages given to the patients by the nurses. That way, the patients don’t have to wait for nurses to make any changes when necessary. For instance, some automated IV pumps allow patients to make any changes (with the permission and limits set by their nurses) to increase or decrease the amount of pain medication by themselves.
- Precision Medicine
Precision medicine enables doctors and other healthcare workers to move closer to providing personalized care to patients. Here’s a better picture. Surely, you can’t expect to buy the same things for a ten-year-old boy and a six-month-old baby girl. They have their own respective needs and preferences. This is what precision medicine is all about.
It aims to remove the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to medicine. Precision medicine is based on a deeper understanding of genomics and genetics, and how the results can drive factors and decisions like drug response in a patient.
In effect, precision medicine enables doctors from many medical management groups to provide better disease prevention and accurate diagnosis to patients. Other more specific ways in which innovations improve patient care are:
- It eliminates the risk of efficiency due to trial-and-error, when doctors are still left at a loss as to what treatment form best fits their patient (e.g., the usual trial-and-error done for cancer patients);
- It shifts the focus of patient care from reaction to prevention;
- It reduces the failure rate, time lost, and cost of pharmaceutical clinical trials.
Conclusion
The list of innovations above is only the tip of the iceberg. More health-related innovations are discussed at https://www.vecernji.hr/techsci/news-bar-promijenio-dizajn-vlada-na-twitteru-objasnjavala-da-ga-nisu-ukinuli-918901. When you delve deeper into the hospital setting, you’ll find that there really are so many more ways that innovation is shaping and changing patient care for the better. You may also consider joining the healthcare revolution applying the value-based model in pharmacy by visiting https://docstation.co/features/value-based-pharmacy. And if you are looking to expand your dental practice, you may consider using Cloud 9 Software to grow your business.
This isn’t to say, however, that technology will totally take the place of human health workers. It’s not meant to replace their expertise. Rather, technology is simply there to assist and aid health workers in providing better patient care.
