Digitalization moves forward every day.
Among others the topic of digitalization of the human healthcare gains more and more attention.
Hereby the questions arise what can be done to provide an improved healthcare supply for patients, a better working environment for physicians and a single source of truth for patients and physicians. But what pros and cons come with this possible change of a digital healthcare system? And which one overweight the other?
In terms of improved service, a more digitized healthcare system could provide office hours for virtual visits to consolidate a physician in person and thus could provide medical service even in rural and remote areas in the future.
Sharing of personal data and information could improve the information process between different experts, especially in the case of an emergency. Limited access and a resulting ineffective way of communication among medical stuff is often a cause for mistreatment or even no treatment at all. Thus, verified applications for topics like telemedicine, patient monitoring, medical services, and emergency response could increase the reliability of critical information and the service for patients.
But to achieve these improvements and possibilities there are several challenges that need to be faced. The main objection is similar like in most cases of digitalization, the protection and security of personal data. But also issues like data storage, management and the necessary availability of heterogeneous resources with unified, but still restricted, and ubiquitous access need to be dealt with. There is a need for governmental regulations to arrange a sustainable dealing with confidential data.
To summarize, the digitalization of the healthcare system would improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care and treatment. It could be even said that it is inevitable for the further development and the use of technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), for example to supply models of prediction, where thousands of data is necessary to provide these services. Data which can be collected in an efficient way if governmental regulations and appropriate patient consent are in place to use data for their well-being.
Sources:
Deloitte. (2019). Virtual health care: Can the health care system deliver? [Online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/multimedia/videos/virtual-health-care.html [Accessed: 10.09.2019].
Doukas, C., Pliakas, T. & Maglogiannis, I. (2010). Mobile Healthcare Information Management utilizing Cloud Computing and Android OS. In Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology.
Jasmin, C. (2018). mHealth: What is it, and how can it help us? [Online] Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322865.php [Accessed: 10.09.2019].
Tresp, V. et al. (2016) Going digital: a survey on digitalization and large-scale data analytics in healthcare. In Proceedings of the IEEE, 104(11).
Hi Markus,
Thank you for pointing out this emerging topic. I think it is remarkable what is already possible today through the combination of biotech and info-tech industries. First, I would like to share this video by CBS, where we can see AI image recognition technology in action during a colonoscopy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-colonoscopies-university-of-california-irvine/
The AI colonoscopy is 20% more accurate in detecting tissues and formed polyps, which is the incipient stage of colorectal cancer. In the example, the patient benefits from the method, as AI was able to discover two polyps in his colon, so insignificant that a human eye would have missed it. But success rates heavily depend on large amounts of data, so researchers are planning randomized samples to collect more input for improvement.
In an article by Alagappan, Brown, Mori & Berzin (2018), the authors describe how AI is revolutionizing patient treatments such as gastrointestinal endoscopies, by assisting doctors. While the technology is extremely advanced, little research has been delivered on ethical and legal consequences inherent to these methods. For instance, who will be responsible for false-positive results delivered by machines? The researchers also urge for upgraded patient data security in clinics and more collaboration among the health care industry to foster standardization and regulation.
Alagappan, M., Brown, J. R. G., Mori, Y., & Berzin, T. M. (2018). Artificial intelligence in gastrointestinal endoscopy: The future is almost here. World journal of gastrointestinal endoscopy, 10(10), 239.
Hi Markus,
Nice post! The role digitalization has indeed a promising outlook in the healthcare industry. However, as Julia mentions, it is already having a significant impact. What fascinates me the most is the use of VR/AR in order to train medical staff before a surgery. For instance, ImmersiveTouch has developed a virtual reality surgical planning solution. By means of a platform, the tool generates 3D models from patient scans so that surgeons and their teams can study and elaborate surgical tactics (Daley, 2019). With the help of a Oculus Rift headset, surgeons can use a number of tools to simulate the procedure (Daley, 2019). Despite this being already groundbreaking, experts still consider that the VR in the healthcare industry is still at its infancy (Hendrickson, 2019). Therefore, imagine what there is still to come!
Daley, S. (2019).THE CUTTING EDGE: 10 COMPANIES BRINGING VIRTUAL REALITY & AR TO THE OR. Retrieved from: https://builtin.com/healthcare-technology/augmented-virtual-reality-surgery
Hendrickson, Z. (2019).Here’s how virtual reality is training the doctors of the future. Available at:https://www.businessinsider.com/virtual-reality-adds-new-training-methods-for-surgeons-2019-8?international=true&r=US&IR=T