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In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, disruptive technologies are revolutionising industries across the globe. From artificial intelligence and blockchain to virtual reality and the internet of things, these transformative technologies are reshaping traditional business models and creating new opportunities for growth and innovation.
To dive deep into these topics we are excited to announce a new series of articles, “Re-Imagining Industries.” In this series, we will dive deep into several industries that have been revolutionised by the emergence of new technological developments.
Beginning the series off we are looking at the healthcare industry.
In a world of fast-evolving technological development, the healthcare industry finds itself surrounded with aggressive disruptions due to the emergence of modern technologies. Innovations in the field of artificial intelligence, telemedicine, virtual reality and the internet of things are not only changing what healthcare looks like, but fundamentally redefining how it is delivered; making care more accessible and personalised than ever before.
Telemedicine is the practice of using digital communication technologies, such as video calls and messaging, to provide medical care and consultation remotely.
Telemedicine has become an integral aspect of this revolution in making healthcare services available to anyone via remote consultations. Platforms like Babylon Health and AmWell exemplify this shift, allowing patients to receive medical advice and care from the comfort of their own homes. This innovation is particularly powerful in regions with deficiencies of medical personnel where the application of digital platforms becomes invaluable in narrowing institutionalised gaps in healthcare provision. The COVID-19 pandemic made clear the importance of telemedicine, ensuring the prevention of viral transmission, whilst simultaneously ensuring the continuity in care. Telemedicine adoption is a manifestation of an emerging culture towards the use of digital tools to supplement the reach of care, ensuring that quality medical support is accessible to everyone via just one simple click.
For a deeper dive into telemedicine, check out this great video below by CNBC that dives into how it can be the future of health care:
The evolution of the health care sector can be further demonstrated through the increased role that advanced data analytics now play. Through leveraging enormous quantities of data, these technologies offer unprecedented insights into patient health, enabling more accurate diagnoses and tailored treatment plans. By predicting health trends, indicating future risks and offering interventions to prevent some of the potential threats that can occur in the long run, this innovation has changed the historical pattern in the industry from reactive healthcare, to preventative healthcare. Using pattern and results analysis, data analytics makes evidence-based medicine a more attractive proposition, as patients are given personalised treatments leading to improved outcomes. This individualised approach, underpinned by data, reaffirms the role that technology has in changing patient delivery in the healthcare industry.
There is a fantastic Ted Talk below by Tiranee Achalakul that further showcases the crucial role that data has to play and how it can improve healthcare offerings:
Further innovations in healthcare have come from the use of artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology, which open up even more opportunities for patient care. Artificial intelligence is not only transforming diagnostic procedures but also interpreting medical imagery, to the point, that is likely that going forward even surgeries will have some assistance in robotic form. By using data sets of immense sizes, AI technologies continually improve their diagnostic accuracy and hence provide precise medicine recommendations. At the same time, VR is revamping medical education allowing the simulation of procedures and certain challenging situations to help students develop skills and understandings that would only otherwise be learned through many years of experience. Most excitingly, the greatest innovations in the healthcare industry through AI and VR are still to come, and it will be interesting to see what issues are tackled next.
Another fantastic article linked right here by J Pottle examining the revolutionary impact of VR on medical education.
The advent of wearable technology is another big, while more established, advancement that has enabled individuals to take responsibility for their own well-being. Devices such as Whoop, the Apple Watch and Fitbit, track vital signs, physical activity and sleep patterns providing a lens into the user’s health status, that may act as the first red flag signalling any concerns or discrepancies. The real-time data from wearables empowers individuals to make their own health decisions, encouraging self-accountability, leaning the focus away from the healthcare industry and more towards preventative care on a person by person basis. The value in this is immense, as more self-accountability and a preventative approach can alleviate some of the stress placed on institutional healthcare providers such as the NHS.
The incorporation of disruptive technologies in the healthcare industry signals a future in which care will be increasingly accessible, more effective and responsive to personal needs. It is not just an improvement in patient care but a re-imagination of the very pillars on which healthcare delivery stands. With these technologies continuing to move forward, it is certain that the quality of support provided will only improve year on year.
Links to Further Reading:
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