Advances in technology are happening at an unbelievable rate. Each and every day there are unique, new opportunities due to technological advancements. In the medical arena, the leaps and bounds are truly mind boggling, especially when you consider that some methods used a decade ago are now considered ancient and obsolete. And, the methods and machinery we use today are already on the fast track to being replaced by tomorrow’s next big thing.
These advancements are due to technological achievements that improve research, information gathering, and information sharing in the medical field.
Access to Patient History and Information Provides Greater Patient Care
Hand-held devices, such as tablets and cell phones, allow doctors and nurses to provide safer, faster, and more reliable care to each and every patient. One device can provide the caretaker with information on all her patients, and all of the information she needs is available immediately.
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) can provide the patient’s medical history, lab results, prescriptions, and current treatments. Applications on the devices can also be used to view and examine x-rays and CT scans. With the information readily available, and not loaded up in office filing cabinets, these electronic databases reduce the amount of time wasted, which gives health care professionals more time for their patients.
Laboratory movers are also incorporating electronic databases in order to catalog specimens and provide safer legal transport of biological and chemical materials. This is especially useful to hospitals and research facilities undergoing lab relocation.
Online Data Gathering Can Pinpoint Illness Trends
Technology has improved the methods that doctors use for research. With better research tools, doctors are able to correlate their information into better treatments for patients, and in a shorter amount of time.
Read also: Advancements in Medical Tech
One of the new ways information can be gathered is through online search terms. When people searches for certain terms, such as “flu”, this information can be compiled to pinpoint areas that are currently affected by the flu. It assesses the rates, trends, and movements of the illness. This is still in the early stages, and isn’t exactly a science, but it is something that has great potential for the future.
Telemedicine: the Sharing of Information and Experience
Due to technological advancements, doctors can now share information across the world in seconds. This means: that your doctor can now consult with, and gain insight from, specialists around the globe. Using telemedicine, the implementation of video conferencing, file sharing, and even texting means that the experience of one doctor, thousands of miles away, can immediately be beneficial and useful to another.
The implementation of new technology also results in doctors taking on less responsibility, as the patient takes on a bit more. Applications where the patient can record their own food consumption and fitness activities allow the patient to be more involved in their own health. More advanced wearable health devices monitor and graph blood pressure, heart rate, sleeping patterns, and stress. With the ability to view this information, patients may become inspired to take charge of the controllable aspects of their health. Viewing, gathering, and sharing information at the speed of light; technology is constantly changing the face of the medical industry, and bringing about greater care for the world’s population.
Imagine the positive effects technology will have on healthcare, especially when patients take on more responsibility for their health.
Featured image credit: ShutterStock
