Whether you’re a surgeon, pediatrician, psychiatrist, or staff administrator, technology has changed the way you work in one way or another. While some industries have shied away from technological improvements, the healthcare industry certainly isn’t one of them. Healthcare regularly adopts new technology to aid in research, operations, and daily managerial tasks. If you’d like to learn the different ways technology has improved healthcare, we’ve got you covered. Read on to learn more.
Telemedicine is the future for patients and healthcare professionals
Especially amid the coronavirus pandemic, technology allows health professionals to provide care and advice remotely. By having easy access to doctors and nurses, people in rural areas who aren’t near a hospital or medical office can get advice and potential treatment quickly. Additionally, technology gave healthcare workers an easy and efficient way to provide and receive training, which is especially helpful when some individuals don’t live nearby the facility.
Significantly better treatment
Of course, technology is constantly changing and improving based on research and data. The healthcare industry specifically takes research and data seriously because it could be the answer they need to provide better treatments. Without technology, doctors wouldn’t have access to X-ray, anesthesia, MRI, CT, and ultrasound machines.
Accessing databases and resources has never been easier
Remember those pictures of a secretary scurrying through a mountain of yellow files? That’s actually how the healthcare industry was for a long time, but not anymore. How efficient, right? Technology makes patient information readily available on the phones, tablets, or laptops of healthcare professionals. Your healthcare facility needs to take advantage of the connectivity benefits from technology in order for doctors and nurses to access files quickly. Furthermore, many of us assume doctors genuinely know everything, but even they need to reference medical textbooks on their mobile devices from time to time.
Personal care is easier
With the rise of wearable technology, most notably the Apple Watch, patients can keep track of their own health. In fact, Apple announced that you can even run an EKG test on the Apple Watch Series 4 or later, which provides further data to health providers and patients. With innovations in personal devices, individuals have the opportunity to perform some of their own tests. In fact, we’ve seen several technological improvements on mobile apps that can tell you if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19.
While all these different ways that technology has improved healthcare are amazing, they are only the beginning. Both tech companies and major healthcare brands are constantly working on new ways to make healthcare better and more efficient. In other words, we’re in for a ride in the coming years.
