How often have you heard the phrase “Internet has changed modern life?” Indeed, it has almost certainly altered how you communicate with family and friends, shop for goods and services, and even seek information about health problems.
There are numerous telehealth tools available to assist you in managing your health care and receiving your required services. Are you capitalizing on them? Healthcare is a sector that is currently transforming through cutting-edge technology to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. Technology can assist healthcare organizations in meeting growing demand and operating more efficiently to provide superior patient care. The following are five technological trends that will impact medicine and healthcare in 2020.
- Increase Your Knowledge of Telehealth
Briefly, telehealth uses digital information and communications technologies to gain remote access to several health services that will help you manage your health effectively. The technologies used here may be ones that you already use at home or those that healthcare professionals use to facilitate the entire process.
Telehealth has the following aims, also called e-health or mobile health.
- Access to medical care is particularly important for people living in isolated areas and communities.
- Access to the world’s most eminent medical specialists.
- Better coordination between both the patient’s health team and the health team.
- Self-care measures that support self-care.
- Portal for patients
Your primary healthcare clinic may have an online patient portal. These portals provide an alternative to email, which is notoriously insecure for communicating sensitive medical information. A portal is a safer online tool that can accomplish the following tasks:
- Consult your physician or a nurse.
- Refill prescriptions.
- Examine test results and visit summaries from prior visits.
- You can schedule. You can request appointments or reminders.
If your physician is part of a large health care system, the portal may also serve as a single point of contact for any specialists you see.
- Remote monitoring
Your doctor or health care team can monitor your health by remote patient monitoring device using various technologies. The following technologies include:
- Web-based or mobile applications pass the information on blood glucose readings to your doctor or health care team.
- Wireless device transmission: Measure and transmit blood pressure, glucose, or lung function data.
- Wearable devices that record and automatically transmit data such as cardiac rates, blood glucose levels, gait, posture control, tremors, and sleep patterns.
- Devices for the monitoring of elderly or home dementia who detect changes in normal activities, such as drops
- Genomics
When a person’s genomic information is used to develop personalized treatment plans and clinical care, artificial intelligence, and machine learning help advance genomic medicine. Genomic medicine is making a difference in pharmacology, oncology, infectious diseases, and other fields. Computers considerably accelerate the analysis of genes and gene mutations related to medical conditions.
This helps the medical community to understand the development and treatment of disease or even its elimination. Numerous research projects are underway to determine the best ways to treat medical conditions such as organ transplant rejection, cystic fibrosis, and cancers using personalized medicine.
- Virtual consultations
Numerous clinics also offer virtual appointments, which allow patients to consult with doctors via video conferencing. These appointments ensure that the doctor provides regular feedback, establishing that a personal visit is unnecessary.
Web-based visits with doctors or nurses, typically for minor diseases, are virtual appointments similar to those found in a hallway. A web-based TV tool guides the patient through a range of questions and allocates medicines and home care strategies based on answers. Depending on the diagnosis, the doctor will get either message or mail your prescription.
Whereas telehealth can increase care coordination, it also has the potential to fragment health care. Fragmented care can result in care gaps, excessive medical care use, inappropriate medication use, and unnecessary or overlapping care.
Other factors may affect the potential advantages of telehealth services, such as financial resources. Insurance reimbursement for telehealth remains inconsistent across states and insurance types. Additionally, some individuals who would most benefit from increased access to care may be constrained by regional internet availability or the high cost of mobile devices.
